THE TEMPLE OF NEBHEPETRA-MENTUHETEP
THE TEMPLE OF NEBHEPETRA-MENTUHETEP
About five hundred years before Senenmut began planning the
construction of Hatshepsut's temple at Dayr al-Bahari, another
architect was working on combined temple and burial place for
the Dynasty 11 ruler Nebhepetra-Mentuhetep. His monument lies
only a few meters south of Hatshepsut's and was excavated by
several British and American missions between 1859 and 1931
and extensively studied by a German mission in the 1970s. Like
Hatshepsut's temple, Mentuhetep's building was reached by a
long avenue, lined with statues, two of which are still standing in
place, and a ramp that leads up to a low terrace.
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south sides of the building. Colonnades on either side of the ramp
and on the terrace above continue around to the north and
Unlike Hatshepsut's temple, Mentuhetep's is small.
It was topped by a mastaba or by a mound (but probably not by
a pyramid, as was once thought). And unlike Hatshepsut's
temple, Mentuhetep's was used both as a temple dedicated the
king and to Hathor, and as the royal burial- place. Behind the
mastaba or mound atop the temple, a large columned
courtyard has eighty octagonal pillars. In the floor is the
entrance to a 150 meter-long corridor leading westward to his
burial chamber cut deep in the limestone cliffs. Mentuheteps
monument is closed to visitors today but a good view can be
had from the open court in front of it that once was filled with
trees, flowers, and statuary. There is a depression in the
courtyard into which Howard Carter's horse is said to have
fallen. At its base, a corridor leads to a chamber under the
temple in which excavators found an unusual red, black, and
white statue of Mentuhetep (now in the Cairo Museum).
THE TEMPLE OF THUTMES III
This badly-destroyed temple was not discovered until the
1960s. It had suffered from frequent rock falls from the hills
above, and lay buried beneath rubble for nearly three millennia.
It lies above and behind the temples of Hatshepsut and
Mentuhetep and shares design features with both. Pilgrims
eoming to pay homage to the goddess Hathor wrote numerous
graffiti on its walls. The area is closed to tourists, and for
structural reasons probably will remain closed. But one hopes
that the collection of stunningly beautiful carved and painted
relief blocks recovered in Polish and Egyptian excavations and
now stored at Dayr al- Bahari will one day be put on display. A
few of these blocks, together with pieces from Mentuhetep's
temple, can be seen in the Luxor Museum of Ancient Art.
