Deir el-Bahri is a group of Pharaonic temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile opposite the city of Luxor in Egypt.
The monastery was built by Queen Hatshepsut to perform rituals that would benefit her in the afterlife. The name Deir el-Bahri is a modern Arabic name given to this area in the seventh century AD after the Copts used this temple as their monastery. The temple consists of three rising terraces, connected by sloping platforms for ascending and descending.
Deir el-Bahri temples
Deir el-Bahari is an area of graves on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the ancient city of Thebes (today's Luxor) and located to the north of it. Several graves carved into the rocks were found in that area, including a recently discovered tomb with a cache in which 40 mummies were found. There are three temples in Deir el-Bahari.
Deir el-Bahari is located in a mountainous area, and behind it is the Valley of the Kings, where the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt are located. Tourists come to the entire region from all over the world, and they visit it after or before their visit to the Temple of Amun (Karnak) in Luxor.
Egyptian tourism also allows visitors the possibility of ascending in balloons over that spot and enjoying viewing what is there from the highest eras that preceded us by about 3,500 thousand years.
Temples.
Temple of Mentuhotep.
Main article: Temple of Mentuhotep II
A model of the temple of Mentuhotep II, as imagined by archaeologists
The first to exploit this area was the Egyptian Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty, who ordered the construction of a temple near his tomb. The road leading to his tomb was surrounded on both sides by colorful stone statues of him, and graves were allocated around the temple for his wives, army commanders, and close nobles.
The Temple of Mentuhotep is distinguished by its unique design, and at the same time it is the first temple built on the west bank of Thebes during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.
Hatshepsut Temple
Main article: Temple of Hatshepsut (Luxor)
The Temple of Hatshepsut was established during the Eighteenth Dynasty next to the Temple of Mentuhotep. It is distinguished by its large size and still dazzles visitors with its beauty and unique design. It differs from the temples that were built in Thebes on the eastern bank of the Nile.
During the beginning of Christianity, the Copts established a monastery of worship on the Temple of Hatshepsut. The monastery continued to exist until the eleventh century. In the nineteenth century, the archaeologists Auguste Meret and Edward Nephi found the remains of the monastery. They worked to remove the ruins of the monastery to see the ruins of the temple underneath. Nafi recorded his works extensively in 7 books under the title: “The Temple of Deir el-Bahari” during the years 1894 - 1898.
Temple of Thutmose III
Main article: Temple of Tuthmosis III
In addition to what Tuthmosis III built after his succession to Hatshepsut, including the “Akhmenu” Temple in Karnak, and the “Henket Ankh” Temple (north of the Ramesseum), Tuthmosis III created a temple above Hathor’s Kiosk in Deir el-Bahari during the last years of his rule. In Deir el-Bahari.
Cemetery TT 353 Senenmut: 97 meters long and 42 meters deep.
This temple is located between the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Temple of Mentuhotep II in their background, and it is much smaller than them. Currently, there are few remains of it. This temple was built on a high plateau compared to the other two temples, as there was no place between them to build his temple. According to the design of this temple of Tuthmosis III, its axis faces exactly in the direction of the Karnak Temple located on the eastern bank of the Nile. The two temples of the Eighteenth Dynasty (Egyptian New Kingdom) were called the “House of a Million Years.”
Cemeteries
Deir el-Bahari Tombs Cache.
Main article: Deir el-Bahari Tombs Cache
Hatshepsut's expedition to Puntland: a painting on the wall of Hatshepsut's temple.
The big surprise in Deir el-Bahari was the discovery of tomb DB320 (also known as TT320), which was discovered by Ahmed Abdel Rasoul in 1871.
A family kept the secret of their discovery of the cemetery, which is from the Twenty-first Dynasty, as they found in it, alongside the jewelry of the dead and their offerings, about 40 mummies, including the mummies of kings from the 17th-21st Dynasties. They sold what they found little by little until the knowledge of that tomb reached the head of Egyptian antiquities at the time, Gaston Maspero. Maspero prevented his assistant, Emil Bruges, from entering what was called “the Deir el-Bahari Tombs hideout” until July 6.