The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is the focal point of the Deir el-Bahri (“Northern Monastery”) complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor.

Hatshepsut was a rare female pharoah. The temple known as Djeser-Djeseru ("Splendor of Splendors ") was designed and implemented by Senemut, royal steward of Hatshepsut, to serve for her posthumous worship.

A 100-foot causeway leads to the temple, which consists of three terraced courtyards covered in sculptural reliefs. Most of the carvings of the queen herself were destroyed by her stepson and successor, who hated her for the way she treated him.

It is hard to imagine it now, but these terraces were filled with gardens and trees - a man-made oasis in the desert. On the top terrace is the Djeser-Djeseru, a colonnaded structure built into a cliff face that rises sharply above it. From a distance, the temple looks like the Egyptian hieroglyphic for Nun, a four-step pyramid. Nun was the primordial mound from which Amun was born.

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