Temple of Ellesyia

Welcome to the Temple of Ellesyia, an extraordinary monument that has traveled thousands of miles from the rugged landscapes of Nubia to the heart of Turin, Italy. This small but architecturally significant rock-cut chapel was…

Approaching the temple, you are greeted by the facade as it would have appeared to a traveler arriving by boat on the Nile three millennia ago. The reconstruction in the Museo Egizio aims to evoke the same 'feel' as the original…

As we move into the vestibule area, look to the right side of what was originally the entrance. Due to spatial constraints in the museum, some wall sections have been slightly detached from their original positions, but their…

One of the most historically valuable graffiti in the entire chapel consists of three simple lines of text located high on the wall. This inscription chronicles the career of a man named Amenemope, providing a three-stage…

We now enter the innermost sanctuary, the sacred heart of the temple. In the central niche, you can see the statues of the deities to whom this chapel was dedicated. …

The presence of Ramses II at Ellesyia is not merely limited to the recarving of the niche. During the Nineteenth Dynasty, the famous Viceroy Setau visited the chapel to officially restore the damage caused during the Amarna…

As the centuries passed and the ancient Egyptian religion was replaced by Christianity, the Temple of Ellesyia found a new purpose. Around the seventh century AD, Coptic Christians transformed the rock-cut chapel into a place of…

The Temple of Ellesyia is a survivor. It survived the iconoclasm of Akhenaten, the flooding of the Nile, and the potential permanent loss beneath the waters of Lake Nasser. …