On the west bank of Nile lies the great Egyptian land of the Death ! The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is an ancient funerary shrine in Upper Egypt. Built for the Eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, it is located beneath the cliffs on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings.
The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut - The pic is taken from a kilometre away !
It’s a 45 min drive to the Temple of Hatshepsut from main Luxor where I was staying. To enter the place, it will cost you around 144 EGP / USD $9 / INR 700/ (As per current exchange rates) This amount includes the fare for the electric train that takes you to the complex.
Photography is allowed in this location. However, flash photography is not allowed. The temple timings are 0600 Hours to 1700 Hours. It is a good idea to go early to the see the monument. It can get uncomfortably hot in the day. Sun glasses, Hats /scarfs, sunscreen and Water bottles are good ideas.
The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
The mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun deity Amun. It is considered one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt." It is named after the person who built it. Queen Hatshepsut. In fact, while the pyramids were good, nothing compares to the grandeur of this huge structure. I was lucky to go there on a day with very little crowd. I felt transported to another time.
Note the multiple layers of terraces
The layout of the temple complex
Entrance
Carvings
Words are not enough to describe the feeling of standing on that spot. The same spot where the Pharaohs once stood! The entire complex is designed to intimidate an individual by its sheer size and magnitude. As there was no one around in some of the sections, it was just me and the temple complex. I almost half expected an ancient Egyptian to walk out with a spear.
Below is a Pano image of the whole place.Taken from the temple doorstep.
The carvings on the walls. This relief sculpture within Hatshepsut’s temple recites the tale of the divine birth of a female pharaoh – the first of its kind. However, most of these portraits were destroyed at the order of her stepson Thutmose III after her death. Deir el Bahari . The first monument built at the site was the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh dynasty. Mentuhotep II, Eleventh Dynasty king who reunited Egypt at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, built a very unusual funerary complex. His mortuary temple was built on several levels in the great bay at Deir el-Bahari.
The temple is also known for its astronomical alignment as a result of which sunlight pours in through various pre-set apertures and falls on the status of the various gods. In all of all the places I visited in Egypt, This one stole the show!. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Egypt.
That’s a towering structure. That pic was taken literally vertically upwards.
My guide Mehmood also took me to a couple of neighboring temples, all of them representing one fantastic legend after another.
The status were so huge, I made it point to stand in-front of them in most of the pics to showcase the sheer size of these structures!
The Valley of the Kings
After an awe-inspiring session at the mortuary temple we moved to the valley of Kings. The valley of kings in around 45 mins drive from the main town of Luxor. However, its around 11 mins from the temple of Hatshepsut. Hence it would be a good idea to combine the two trips together.
Hatshepsut temple to Valley of the kings
The location timings are 0600 hours to 1700 hours. It is definitely recommended that you visit as early as possible. As mentioned earlier It can get uncomfortably hot in the day. Even if you skip precautions in other places. Here Sun glasses, Hats /scarfs, sunscreen and Water bottles are a must for a comfortable experience.
The entry fee is around EGP 204 / USD $12.80/ INR 1000/ . This amount includes the fee for the electric train that takes to you the complex. However, this fee only allows you to visit some of the tombs. The special tomb of Tut Ankh Amon (Tutankhamun) costs an additional 300 EGP/ USD $19/ INR 1500/ CNY 136 Yuan. Apart from that there also the Valley of The Queens. So, if you want to see all of them expect to shell out around 650 EGP / USD $41 / INR 3100/ (As per current exchange rates).
Waiting for the electric train
The Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, rock cut tombs were excavated for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom. Photography is strictly prohibited here. I managed to click a few with my cell phone. However, later I found out that, it was against the rules. If caught you risk a fine up to 2000 EGP/ USD 128.
The Theban Hills are dominated by the peak of Al-Qurn, known to the Ancient Egyptians as Ta Dehent. It has a pyramid-shaped appearance, and it is probable that this echoed the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, more than a thousand years prior to the first royal burials carved here.
The valley is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers. It was the principal burial place of the major royal figures of the Egyptian New Kingdom, as well as a number of privileged nobles. The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period. Almost all of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of the Pharaohs.
Valley of Queens
In modern times the valley has become famous for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and is infamous for its with its rumors of the Curse of the Pharaohs (Anyone seen the movie "The Mummy “? – The one with Brandon Frazier), and is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.
Chilling with the Pharaohs
The Egyptian ruins is today probably one of the oldest and only spots that’s have survived the ravages of time as a tourist spot and flourished. The valley of kings was a tourist spot as old as 3000 Years ago. There are many recorded instances of people coming to see the Egyptian culture even back then. To fully understand the annuity of Egypt, think of it like this ...By the time biblical events happened and Christianity was born. The Egyptian ruins were already 3000 years old!
Many of the tombs have graffiti written by these ancient tourists. Over 2,100 Greek and Latin instances of graffiti, along with a smaller number in Phoenician, Cypriot, Lycian, Coptic, and other languages have been found. The earliest positively dated graffiti dates to 278 B.C !
By the time the 21st Dynasty came the Valley of Kings was an active plunder zone. The 21st Dynasty initially moved the bodies into three tombs. Later they moved them all to the mountains on top and behind the temple of Hatshepsut. See Below. The Mountain on top of the building.
So, after all the history lesson i decided to do something light, my pea sized brain could only take so much of information. A 5000-year-old civilization tends to throw information at you at a rate which most human beings would find over whelming! So I packed of to Hurgada.
If you wish to know anything about the place so reach out via the comments section. I will try my best to share.
