Ramesseum
Aerial view of Thebes' Ramesseum, showing pylons and secondary buildings
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| Location | Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt |
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| Region | Upper Egypt |
| Coordinates | 25°43′40″N 32°36′38″E / 25.72778°N 32.61056°ECoordinates: 25°43′40″N 32°36′38″E / 25.72778°N 32.61056°E |
| Type | Sanctuary |
| Part of | Theban Necropolis |
| History | |
| Builder | Ramesses II |
| Founded | 13th century BC |
| Official name | Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iii, vi |
| Designated | 1979 (3rd session) |
| Reference no. | 87 |
| Region | Arab States |
The Ramesseum is the memorial temple (or mortuary temple) of Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Ramesses the Great", also spelled "Ramses" and "Rameses"). It is located in the Theban necropolis in Upper Egypt, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor. The name – or at least its French form, Rhamesséion – was coined by Jean-François Champollion, who visited the ruins of the site in 1829 and first identified the hieroglyphs making up Ramesses's names and titles on the walls. It was originally called the House of millions of years of Usermaatra-setepenra that unites with Thebes-the-city in the domain of Amon.Usermaatra-setepenra was the prenomen of Ramesses II.
Ramesses II modified, usurped, or constructed many buildings from the ground up, and the most splendid of these, in accordance with New Kingdom Royal burial practices, would have been his memorial temple: a place of worship dedicated to pharaoh, god on earth, where his memory would have been kept alive after his death. Surviving records indicate that work on the project began shortly after the start of his reign and continued for 20 years.
The design of Ramesses's mortuary temple adheres to the standard canons of New Kingdom temple architecture. Oriented northwest and southeast, the temple itself comprised two stone pylons (gateways, some 60 m wide), one after the other, each leading into a courtyard. Beyond the second courtyard, at the centre of the complex, was a covered 48-column hypostyle hall, surrounding the inner sanctuary.
An enormous pylon stood before the first court, with the royal palace at the left and the gigantic statue of the king looming up at the back.
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