Hatshepsut's Main Sanctuary of Amun-Re at Deir el-Bahari reopens to thepublic

Hatshepsut's Main Sanctuary of Amun-Re at Deir el-Bahari reopens to the public
After many years of careful documentation and conservation work, the Main Sanctuary of Amun-Re and the Ptolemaic Portico in the upper courtyard of the Temple of Hatshepsut was reopened to the public in December 2017.
"The ceremony was hosted by the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities, represented by the Minister of Antiquities Prof. Khaled el-Enani, and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw, represented by its Director, Prof. Tomasz Waliszewski, with the participation of the Polish Ambassador, H.E. Michał Murkociński, and the Governor of Luxor, Mohamed Badr. The PCMA will be also represented by Dr. Artur Obłuski, Director of the Research Centre in Cairo, and Dr. Zbigniew E. Szafrański, director of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari." [1]
The Main Sanctuary consists of the Bark Hall, where the ceremonial boat (bark/barque) for the image of the god was kept, and the Statue Room where the cultic image of the god resided and three chapels. The Bark Hall is the most magnificent part of the complex, reflecting its importance to the annual festival of Amun, where the god travelled on his boat to visit other gods and sites around Thebes. Rituals from the festival are depicted on the walls.
The Sanctuary is one of the better preserved areas of the Mortuary Temple, which was designed to serve the ka or soul of Hatshepsut after her death. Amun-Re (a syncretisation of the local Theban god Amun and the Solar deity Ra) was at that time, the most important god in Egypt, and one to whom Hatshepsut paid great hommage, possibly in an attempt to establish her legitimacy as ruler of Egypt.
The Polish-Egyptian Conservation Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari was founded in 1961 by Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski.
If you would like to see more pictures and learn more about this fascinating part of the temple, the Mission has released a fantastic FREE brochure which you can download/read here (English and some Arabic): http://bit.ly/2pZm0hu
[1] http://en.uw.edu.pl/the-opening-of-the-main-sanctuary-of-amun-re-in-the-temple-of-hatshepsut/
Mission website:
Polish: http://www.templeofhatshepsut.uw.edu.pl/
English: http://www.templeofhatshepsut.uw.edu.pl/en