Where Is Temple of Dendur? Museum Location

Q: How old is the Temple of Dendur?

It was built around 15 BCE during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. That makes it roughly 2,040 years old. Despite being Roman-era, it follows traditional Egyptian temple architecture and is decorated with hieroglyphic reliefs showing Augustus dressed as a pharaoh.

Q: Why is an Egyptian temple in New York?

Egypt gifted it to the United States in 1965 as thanks for American help saving Nubian monuments from the rising waters of the Aswan High Dam. The Met won the temple over other institutions. Reconstruction at the museum took three years.

Q: How big is the temple?

The temple proper is about 6.4 meters (21 feet) tall and 12.5 meters (41 feet) long. The freestanding gateway is 8 meters (26.5 feet) tall. The gallery housing it includes a reflecting pool and a massive glass wall facing Central Park.

Q: Can I visit the Temple of Dendur?

Yes. It's in Gallery 131 at the Met Fifth Avenue. Admission is pay-what-you-wish for New York residents. The gallery is also the venue for the annual Met Gala, one of the most high-profile fashion events in the world.

Ancient Egyptian The Roman emperor Augustus built this sandstone temple around 15 BCE on the west bank of the Nile in Nubia, about 80 kilometers south of Aswan. It was dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and to two deified sons of a local Nubian chieftain, Pedesi and Pihor. The reliefs show Augustus in pharaonic dress, making offerings to Egyptian gods.

Egypt gifted the temple to the United States in 1965 as thanks for American help saving Nubian monuments threatened by the Aswan High Dam. Without the rescue effort, the rising waters of Lake Nasser would have swallowed it. President Lyndon B. Johnson formally awarded it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1967.

Reconstruction began in 1975, and the gallery opened on September 27, 1978. The installation includes a reflecting pool meant to evoke the Nile. It's the only complete Egyptian temple in the Western Hemisphere and the venue for the annual Met Gala, making it one of the most photographed museum spaces on Earth.

It was built around 15 BCE during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. That makes it roughly 2,040 years old. Despite being Roman-era, it follows traditional Egyptian temple architecture and is decorated with hieroglyphic reliefs showing Augustus dressed as a pharaoh.

Egypt gifted it to the United States in 1965 as thanks for American help saving Nubian monuments from the rising waters of the Aswan High Dam. The Met won the temple over other institutions. Reconstruction at the museum took three years.

The temple proper is about 6.4 meters (21 feet) tall and 12.5 meters (41 feet) long. The freestanding gateway is 8 meters (26.5 feet) tall. The gallery housing it includes a reflecting pool and a massive glass wall facing Central Park.

Yes. It's in Gallery 131 at the Met Fifth Avenue. Admission is pay-what-you-wish for New York residents. The gallery is also the venue for the annual Met Gala, one of the most high-profile fashion events in the world.

Temple of Dendur

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