.jpg)
DEIR EL-BAHRI.
bank of the Nile opposite Thebes. It was apparently first used to construct
the tomb and mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II of Dynasty
11 and the tombs of his successors, as well as the chief officials of the
court. During Dynasty 18 it was chosen as the site of the mortuary
temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the building of which was supervised
by her official, Senenmut. The temple is well preserved and is famous
for its reliefs of the expedition to Punt and the transportation
of an obelisk. Next to Deir el-Bahri a mortuary temple was constructed
by Thutmose III, but this shrine has been largely destroyed
by an earthquake, leaving only a pillared hall with Hathor capitals
and a chapel. The site became a Coptic monastery during the Christian
period but was later abandoned.
Deir el-Bahri was first excavated by Auguste Mariette in 1850,
1862, and 1866. Major excavations were undertaken in the Hatshepsut
temple from 1893–1896 and the Mentuhotep II temple from
1903–1907 by a British expedition of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
Further work in the area was carried out by Herbert Winlock of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1911–1931. The Mentuhotep II
temple was reexamined by a German expedition from 1965–1972,
and the Hatshepsut temple has been the subject of excavation and
Djeser-Djeseru sits atop a series of terraces that once were graced with lush gardens. Djeser-Djeseru is built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it. Djeser-Djeseru and the other buildings of Hatshepsut's Deir el-Bahri complex are considered to be significant advances in architecture.