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Hatshepsut Temple: Difference between revisions
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The Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw is responsible for the study and restoration of the three levels of the temple. As of early 1995, the first two levels were almost complete, and the top level was still under reconstruction. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortuary_Temple_of_Hatshepsut Hatshepsut Temple]</ref> | The Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw is responsible for the study and restoration of the three levels of the temple. As of early 1995, the first two levels were almost complete, and the top level was still under reconstruction. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortuary_Temple_of_Hatshepsut Hatshepsut Temple]</ref> | ||
==Astronomical alignment== | |||
The main and axis of the temple is set to an azimuth of about 116½° and is aligned to the winter solstice sunrise, which in our modern era occurs around the 21st or 22 December each year. The sunlight penetrates through to the rear wall of the chapel, before moving to the right to highlight one of the Osiris statutes that stand on either side of the doorway to the 2nd chamber. A further subtlety to this main alignment is created by a light-box, which shows a block of sunlight that slowly moves from the central axis of the temple to first illuminate the god Amun-Ra to then shining on the kneeling figure of Thutmose III before finally illuminating the Nile god Hapi. Additionally, because of the heightened angle of the sun, around 41 days on either side of the solstice, sunlight is able to penetrate via a secondary light-box through to the innermost chamber. This inner-most chapel was renewed and expanded in the Ptolemaic era and has cult references to Imhotep, the builder of the Pyramid of Djoser, and Amenhotep, son of Hapu, the overseer of the works of Amenhotep III. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortuary_Temple_of_Hatshepsut Hatshepsut Temple]</ref> | |||
==ES Trip Discussion== | ==ES Trip Discussion== | ||