Tsaritsa Khatsepsut temple in Luxor in Egypt

The next stop in Luxor after the examination of Memnon’s colossus is the Tsaritsa Hapschepsut temple. This temple is the largest and most interesting as a whole area, which is called Deir-El Bahry, besides this temple, there are other temples of the pharaohs of Mentukotep I, Tutamos III, Amenhotep II, Tutamos IV, Amenhotep III, Amenhotep I and Queen Nefertari.

It was a place of big concentration of sheek temples, sorry, but most of them have been preserved very bad. The Tsaritsa Khatselsut temple remained best.

Our story about this attraction should be started with the Hatsepsut itself, because she was a female pharaoh, and women on the throne of the Supreme Ruler of Egypt were not often. If exactly, only four times for the whole ancient era to the Hellenistic period. If you are poorly knowing the story, then we have an article for you History of Egypt briefly.

She rules at the beginning of the era of the new kingdom, it was a difficult time when the Egyptians had just kicked out the gixos tribes from their land. The country at that time was only restored after a long period of ruin and war. The country freed the grandfather of Tsaritsa Khatsepsut, the great pharaoh-commander Yahmm I not only broke the forces of gixos on the territory of Egypt, but also destroyed their support points in Palestine.

She received power after the death of her husband of Tutmos II, which historians characterize as not a very good ruler. After his death, the heir was Tutmmos III, who accounted for her to her (he was the son of one of Pharaoh’s concubines), he was declared Pharaoh, and she was regent.

I realized that Hatsepsut more than satisfied with the government as a government, and the young pharaoh no, aristocracy and priests staged a small bloodless coup and removed the minor Pharaoh from the nominal power, sending to the education to the temple of God Amon. So she became a female pharaoh, and the rules of almost 22 years old, having committed many good deeds, including the construction of the temple, about which we tell in this article.

From the point of view of religion, the welling of a woman on the throne was not very correct, because Pharaoh was considered the incarnation of God the Mountain, and he was a man, so it is often in statues it is depicted with a bore, as it can be seen in the photo on the left.

Queen Hatshepsut became famous as a builder, with its rule, many temples and monuments, which were damaged in the invasion of gixos, were rebuilt again or repaired, economics and trade developed, Egypt flourished.

It is in these times in the practice of the burial of pharaohs there were revolutionary changes. Before the era of the new kingdom of rulers were buried in the pyramids, in later epochs, this tradition was preserved, but the pyramids became much more modest, because Egypt had no such a huge free human resource, and there was no possibility of building large pyramids.

In the days of the new kingdom, she began to build peaceful temples, where it was possible to pray to the late pharaoh, and the temple and the tomb were divided. Temples were built in the Deir-El Bahry area, and the tombs were located in the valley of the kings, which is also in Luxor.

The temple is dedicated not only to the queen, which, like all Pharaohs, was deified during his lifetime, but also several of the gods, namely Amon-Ra, Anubis and the goddess Hathor. Anubis was the god of burials, poisons and medicines, he was portrayed by a man with a head of a dog (or jackal). Hathor was the goddess of love and beauty. Amon-Ra – the God of the Sun, the Supreme God and the patron saint of the Pharaoh.

First of all, to the temple you need to get there, and it is not so easy. From the colossus of the Memnon, which, during an excursion in Luxor, tourists inspect the first to the temple of about two kilometers, which excursions are overcome on small cars.

The path on the car will not be long, just about five minutes, it would be much harder, especially in the heat. At the entrance to the temple, only a naked road awaits you, although, once there were statues in the form of Sphinxes with Hatshepsut head, and the trees were planted before the temple and there were ponds with water vegetation.

In the time of the pharaohs, it was much easier to contain the plants here, because the River Nile was poured and the water reached almost to this place. Not far from the temples were agricultural land.

Now only the sand remained from all this, but the temple itself stands, although a lot in it is also destroyed. Interesting architecture of the temple, which for many tourists resembles not ancient Egyptian, and ancient Greek. The temple is located on three levels, indoors of each level, behind the columns are located their sanctoes dedicated to the gods and people.

On the first lower terrace you can find frescoes that tell about the reign of the queen. They are not so well preserved as I would like. Below is the photo of the murals, which tells about the expedition to the Punt country, which Hatsepsut organized. Punta was much south of Egypt, and it was possible to get to him only by sea, from the moment of this expedition, a permanent trade was established with them.

In the second and third floors were the sanctuary of gods and deified pharaohs. On the second floor there are the sanctuary of the gods of Anubis and Hathor, and in the upper tier, the sanctuary of the most queen, her parents and God of Amona.

Temples in Luxor are well protected by police and military. Protection very painting, look at the photo next. Egyptians still remember November 17, 1997, when radical Islamists arranged a terrorist act. We will not talk about it in detail, it is a very unpleasant story, but simply say that this happened precisely in the Khatselsut temple.

For a long time, the inner premises of the Khatsepsut temple were completely closed for tourists. But recently began to open up gradually. In 2015, opened up the top terrace and the altar of the solar coal. In 2017, opened the sanctuary of Amon-ra and Portico Ptolemy. All work here is carried out archaeologists from Poland.

However, some rooms are still closed to the public. Do not wonder. They will also be opened in their time.

Temple entry price

140 Egyptian pounds.

Current pound course, see our article "Money in Egypt".

Opening hours

From 9-00 to 17-00. Seven days a week.

How to get and moving around Luxor

First you need to get to Luxor. Vacationers in Hurghada will advise our article "How to get from Hurghada to Luxor". From Sharm el-Sheikh to get to adequate time only by plane.

Next in Luxor you need to cross the other side of the Nile. Best on ferry for 5 pounds. Next to the Khatselsut Temple of about 5 kilometers the most convenient to take a taxi. Or wait for the local electric train "Taftaf" for 5 pounds.

Important and useful tips

– Most often, taxi drivers in Luxor agree to ride the meter. However, it happens that you have to bargain with them for a fixed fee. To trade successfully, see the official tariffs in our article "Taxi in Egypt";

– In Luxor, it is more convenient to use Egyptian pounds, and the dollars and euros are not taken here everywhere. Read our review "Where and how to change money in Egypt";

– in Luxor is much hotter than in the resorts. Be sure to remember the protection of the sun. Read about it in our articles "What to take to Egypt" and "what is impossible in Egypt".

Good trip to Luxor, and read our interesting articles about Egypt (List of articles below).