©

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Egypt

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Egypt

Temple Hatshepsut Egypt Sandstone Sphinx figure KSE 100 KSE 300 KSE 300 HV Restoration Mortar ZF RM ZF Restoration mortar RM N Funcosil SL Silicone Resin Paint LA Color LA Historic Lime Filler CL Fill Q3 Historic Injection Resin 100 IR Epoxy EP Resin Antihygro KSE OH Mortuary temple New Valley Governorate Egypt

Around 3,500 years ago, Hatshepsut rose to power and built the monumental “Temple of a Million Years” in Deir el Bahari. The building is made entirely of fine sandstone and consists of several terraces and a sphinx figure.

After the pharaoh’s death, her successor had all traces removed, destroyed statues and scratched the name out of the inscriptions. In addition, the effects of the last three and a half millennia were starting to be felt on the building. There was a great deal of rock debris in the temple due to earthquakes, rockfalls, fires and so on. Nonetheless, the key building elements had not been irrevocably destroyed and it was possible to reconstruct them with modern materials.

Reference identification data
Construction project:
Façade restoration Other Façade restoration / natural stone
Building type:
Historically protected / historically valuable buildings
Castles / forts
Short description
Owing to the weathering that had taken place over many thousands of years, the fragments of the building exhibited different wear patterns and strength profiles. These had to be levelled out using a variety of stone strengtheners. In addition, the chemical processes within the limestone were blocked, preventing future water and dirt absorption. Levelling out the differences between the fragments was also an important step in achieving a uniform appearance. Cracked relief blocks had to be bonded together. Some of the limestone elements exhibited pronounced swelling and shrinkage due to swelling clay minerals. This process had to be stopped. During the restoration of the sphinx statues, the building fabric had to be taken into consideration, along with the fact that no single figure was completely preserved. This meant that up to six complete figures had to be reconstructed from the many fragments.
Site address:
New Valley Governorate
Data sheet:
placeholder_v2.png
Date / completion:
2011
Can the work be viewed?
No

Sample of products or systems used

Download

Download reference as PDF

  • ©
  • ©
  • ©
  • ©
  • ©
  • ©
  • ©