Another part of the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari will be available to the public!

(Phot. M. Jawornicki)

Another part of the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari will be available to the public. The opening ceremony of the Main Sanctuary of Amun-Re and the Ptolemaic Portico preceding it will take place on 9 December 2017.

The ceremony will be hosted by the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities, represented by the Minister of Antiquities Prof. Khaled el-Enani, and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw, represented by its Director, Prof. Tomasz Waliszewski, with the participation of the Polish Ambassador, H.E. Michał Murkociński, and the Governor of Luxor, Mohamed Badr. The PCMA will be also represented by Dr. Artur Obłuski, Director of the Research Centre in Cairo, and Dr. Zbigniew E. Szafrański, Director of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari.

The Sanctuary of Amun-Re is located in the middle of the west wall of the Upper Courtyard of the Temple of Hatshepsut. It can be entered through the Ptolemaic Portico and the granite portal, situated exactly on the prolongation of the line of the ramps

leading to the Lower and Middle Terrace. The Main Sanctuary consists of the Bark Hall and the Statue Room with three chapels. The first room housed the sacred bark of Amun and is decorated with representations of mentioned bark and members of Hatshepsut's family. In the next room, the Statue Room, where the figure of Amun-Re was situated, the most important rituals related to the cult of this deity were performed. The statue was illuminated by sunlight thanks to a system of skylights situated above the lintels of the entrances to the Bark Hall and the Statue Room. In the middle of the north and south walls, there are entrances to two narrow chapels devoted to the Ennead. The last chapel, and the farthest room, is the so-called Ptolemaic Sanctuary. Its present shape dates to the reign of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II.

During the works of Polish Mission, the original ceiling of the Bark Hall and the wall of the facade were protected, and a protective platform was built over the Upper Terrace. Thanks to these measures, the pressure of rocks and stones and the destructive influence of rainwater on the structure of the Sanctuary were eliminated. The walls of the complex were stabilized and their decoration reconstructed, including two of the four Osiride statues of Hatshepsut and the reliefs in the Bark Hall. Moreover, the preserved reliefs were cleaned and protected by restorers which brought out the bright colours of the original paint layer. 3D scanning was also carried out as part of comprehensive documentation work. Since work in the Sanctuary has been completed, it can now be opened to the public. Research on the Egyptological aspects of the Sanctuary is conducted by Dr. F. Pawlicki (author of, among others, a guide booklet accompanying the opening) to be published as a monograph. Research on the Ptolemaic part has already been published by Assoc. Prof. Ewa Laskowska-Kusztal, Polish Academy of Sciences (Le Sanctuaire Ptolémaïque de Deir el-Bahari, Deir el-Bahari III, Varsovie 1984).