- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Heat exposure
- Medium
- Shade
- Low
- Stairs
- The ancient floor lies several metres below modern street level, so the approach descends; there are steps and level changes inside the temple as well
You enter through Ramesses II’s pylon (a monumental gateway formed by two massive towers) into his court, then pass into the older building: the great colonnade, Amenhotep III’s sun court, a hypostyle hall (a roofed hall supported by rows of columns), and behind it the smaller, lower, darker rooms of the sanctuary. The temple is about 260 metres long and the whole of it is on one axis except for the bend where the two builds meet.
- 1A doorway that opens into thin air
North-east side of the Court of Ramesses II — look up at the mosque of Abu el-Haggag
- 2Roman paint over Egyptian relief
Beyond Amenhotep III’s hypostyle hall, look for the inner chamber adapted during the Roman period, with remains of painted plaster over earlier Egyptian decoration.
- 3The front of the temple is not square with the rest of it
Stand just inside the pylon and sight down the length of the temple
- 4The festival, carved along the colonnade
The side walls of the great colonnade, both sides — the journey out on one, the return on the other
1A doorway that opens into thin air
An old doorway of the mosque opens out of a blank wall several metres above the paving you are standing on, with nothing beneath it. It was at ground level when it was built, on top of the silt and rubbish that had filled the court.
2Roman paint over Egyptian relief
In one inner hall the Egyptian wall was plastered over in the Roman period and painted with figures in Roman dress. Where the plaster has fallen away, the pharaonic relief underneath shows through it.
Fact — the Roman plaster and painting, and their date. Interpretation — the identification of the room as a chamber of the imperial cult (the worship and rituals devoted to a deity or royal figure).
3The front of the temple is not square with the rest of it
Ramesses II’s court and pylon sit at a clear angle to the colonnade behind them. Sight along the columns and the kink is obvious.
Fact — the change of alignment. Interpretation — that it was made in order to meet the processional route.
4The festival, carved along the colonnade
A continuous, crowded relief: barges towed along the river, soldiers, musicians, acrobats, offering bearers, cattle, and the shrines of the gods carried shoulder-high on their poles.
Ancient paving and packed sand, worn and uneven, with raised thresholds between the courts The ancient floor lies several metres below modern street level, so the approach descends; there are steps and level changes inside the temple as well
Visit mode keeps the sequence, the details and the facilities. The history, the figures and the related reading are in plan mode.