Hatshepsut started building her mortuary temple in her 7th regal year, which was not finished until the 16th or maybe 20th. All nomes (provinces) contributed as if it was a national project, same as when building the Great Pyramid. The architect was "Senenmut", and after his death it was completed by "Imhotep".
The temple was hewn in the rocks at a location which was considered sacred during ancient times, and dedicated to the cult of Hathor, the cow goddess. At the same site were also the tombs of her ancestors, and the temple was built to encroach upon the courtyard of that of "Mentu-Hotep" (11th dynasty), which her architect Senenmut has quoted from its design to a far extent. Hatshepsut dedicated that temple to Amon, but she also built chapels for Hathor and Anubis within the complex. Side chambers were set for the queen’s mortuary cult, though she was buried at the Valley of Kings with her father "Thotmose I" whom she moved his mummy from its original burial. Other than the worship of Amon, the temple was dedicated to document the legend of her divine birth, as well as her voyage to the Land of Punt.
The temple was built of limestone, with its rear parts hewn in a cave-like structure within the rocks. It consists of three terraces or courtyards on different levels that rise gradually from the valley to the sanctuary deep inside the rocks, and are linked by ramps that divide the temple into northern and southern halves. These vertical and horizontal lines show extreme harmony in dimensions, balance and smoothness. Its harmony with the surrounding environment (the mountain, desert and sky) is quite obvious. The design combined the old architecture of the Middle Kingdom (broken angled crownless pillars) and modernization (wider courtyards).
Originally, the temple was linked to an old Valley Temple on the Nile by an avenue of sphinxes with the queen’s face. At the gateway of el-Deir el-Bahary Temple, six sphinxes stood guarding its entrance. All those structures, including the avenue, were later destroyed by "Thotmose III", and remnants of about 120 of those sphinxes were later found.
In front of the gateway and on both sides of the ramp in the first courtyard, Hatshepsut planted the trees obtained from the Land of Punt. The stumps of two trees are still preserved in front of the gateway within enclosures. This was the first time in history to cultivate plants in a different environment than their original habitat.
The entrance to the temple is towards the east, leading to the Lower Courtyard. The whole structure was enclosed within a retaining wall of limestone, parts of which are still preserved on the south side. Along the west side of each terrace rises a colonnade.
The Lower Courtyard:
The Lower Courtyard was originally a garden. Four small ponds were dug on both sides of the ramp in which papyri grew. The remnants of those ponds could still be seen in front of the ramp as two cavities. On both sides of the ramp, northern and southern colonnades end by the Middle Terrace.
Each colonnade has two rows of 11 pillars. The front row pillars are square, and are adorned at their tops by falcons, vultures and snakes
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