Temple of Merenptah

Luxor West Bank - Temples

The Temple of Merenptah - The mortuary temple of Merenptah stands on the right side of the necropolis road, north of the Antiquities Inspectorate and beside the Marsam hotel.
Merenptah was the son and successor of Ramesses II. His temple was destroyed long ago, probably because of its position near the Nile floodplain and the rising water that also destroyed the temple of Amenhotep III.

Merenptah used many blocks from the temple of Amenhotep and other nearby temples in building his own monument. Petrie first investigated the site in 1890, uncovering many of the earlier blocks; over the last two decades of the 20th century the Swiss Institute of Archaeology, with the support of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, worked on the site, excavating and restoring the remaining monuments.
The structure was fairly typical of the late New Kingdom mortuary temples. It was similar in plan to that of the grandfather of Merenptah, Seti I, at Qurna, and copied much of its construction from the mortuary temple of his father, the Ramesseum. There were two pylons and courts, and it seems the original building was altered and enlarged by replacing the mud-brick pillars with stone and adding life-size statues of the king to the pillars. In the first court, texts for Merenptah were found inscribed on the back of monuments of Amenhotep III, recording his victory in the Libyan war and the conclusion of peace with the Hittites.

The poetic text of Merenptah is known as the "Israel Stela" and contains the earliest historical reference to Israel, stating only that the Israelites were "no longer in Egypt". The original stela is now in the Museum in Cairo, and a reproduction has been set up in the temple of Merenptah.
The Temple of Merenptah has been opened as a museum. Many well-preserved blocks and wall fragments containing colourful reliefs of Amenhotep III are displayed alongside stone from other monuments, on pedestals inside the temple complex.

Many of these were re-carved for Merenptah. Many fine examples of sculpture and architectural fragments can be seen in the museum stores, as well as part of a colossal limestone sphinx with a jackal head. A specially built museum houses many of the artefacts found on the site and tells the story of the reconstruction.