Mortuary Temple Of Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut

Just a short drive on the west bank from the Valley of the Kings is the incredible Hatshepsut's temple here and there's a lot going on in this temple but why don't you start by giving us kind of an overview of the the history of this site and what we know about this temple. Yeah the history of this site called Jisr Jisru Iman is the most holy place and site in the western Thebes. So the ancient name of the whole site Jisr Jisru Iman which means the holy followers of Amun and it includes a lot of achievements. It started by the temple of King Montu Khatib Nebhebetra over there which was built by King Montu Khatib Nebhebetra from the 11th dynasty. Not much of that temple left. No actually all the most of the ribbons and the most of the columns and the blocks of this temple were used in this new temple of Queen Hatshepsut. So they used the as a quarry actually. So that's why the Polish when they started to restore the temples in this area they started with the temple of Queen Hatshepsut and now they are working in the temple of King Tutmala the third but they will never finish restoration of this temple of King Montu Khatib Nebhebetra or they cannot rebuild it again because all already the columns and the walls were used in this great temple of Queen Hatshepsut. So this area is the most important area. There is a very ancient cult here dedicated to goddess Hathor and also the style of building in these temples in this area it's very unique you're not found anywhere else. Started by King Montu Khatib Nebhebetra when he started to build the ramp and porticoes and hall of columns and then here also Hatshepsut she took the same design but she make it much bigger than the other and then she took also the columns and the walls and then she made she built also that her genius architect Senenmut he built the ramp and porticoes and then another ramp and porticoes and shrine chapel for Hathor and then the last terrace which includes the beautiful statues for goddess for Queen Hatshepsut while she's wearing double crown and other side wearing the white crown and then festival court and then the holy forest the last part of the temple i mean the holy for i mean the festival court includes so many shrines like chapel for Amun, chapel for Rahorakhti, shrine for King Thutmose the first the father of Hatshepsut as a god also for Hatshepsut herself as a goddess so and then the main holy forest which dedicated during greek and roman i mean during greek and roman period there is a new cult happens and added new extension added inside the holy forest of that Amun-Ra for the cult of two architects from the ancient times from old kingdom period third dynasty the architect king Joseph the name is Imhotep also the architect of king Amonhotep the third Amonhotep son of Hathor both of them worshipped are the gods of medicine and architecture in greek and roman period so this is a very unique also this temple of Queen Hatshepsut it's maybe we can consider the only temple built by limestone the rest of the temples built by sandstone so it's a very special temple yeah really for everything lots of unique things to see here one thing i wanted to bring up was she was a rather controversial ruler um so something you see on this temple is her name there's a problem there is matching between Hatshepsut and her stepson that Moses the third it's reason he decided to chisel her name and her figures from her temple to disappear her name everywhere so that's why because Hatshepsut fell in love with the throne and she tried so much so much time to kick him out and then make him i mean as a warrior and as a fighter maybe she wanted him to die there but he always went and returned back and she kept sending him again and then he went and returned back and then finally he knows that she wanted him to die and then he decided to kill Hatshepsut and destroy her monuments and told her names from everywhere yeah so the story doesn't end so well for her by the way we have three ways of destroying destroyings in this temple we have natural then from the earthquake which happens here so many colors so many blocks from the mountain fell down all the political between the third and Hatshepsut also religious between the followers of god Amr and the followers of god Aton during the atonism period i mean during the period from 1890s to the son of when he when he stopped worshiping for Amun and start to worship to king god Aton so and then he chiseled all the figures of Amun from this temple and other temples and then after the disappearing of religion of Aton and returning back the power of god Amr back and then the the priest and the workers we started to redraw the names and the figures of god Amr again so we have three ways of destroying them you know chiseling inside this temple that's really interesting so you've got political religious and kind of natural forces all at work and the temple has to try and survive in the midst of all that over the centuries another really neat part of this temple uh over here on the left side it tells the story of a great expedition yeah that she organized so where where was that the bond island exhibition i'm not very sure where but it's in the south i mean of africa i mean maybe it's in a theopoeia somalia we are not very sure because the french expedition working there doing study uh researches and studying the fragments of these great places so this expedition has been recorded and they've been available because hachi she said and for instance her workers under the leadership of ban ba banyasi and then he went to pray and bring from their their product the most famous products like incense glue frankincense gum animals giraffe cows battles the monkeys so many things and we give them our products like wheat and papers and and so uh actually uh it was a very great expedition but the expedition during the time of queen hutch was very famous why she was i mean wasn't the first person or ruler make the deal and cooperation between egypt and bond island but we used to have a very good relation with bond island from long time ago from maybe the old kingdom period but the most important thing that here because she's the only queen record this story in her temple you