THE RAMESSEUM This is the mortuary temple of Ramesses II (Ramesses The Great). He started building it in the second year of his long reign and it took about 20 years to complete. It was called, "The House of Millions of Years of User-Maat-Re Setepenre (Ramesses II`s throne name) that unites with Thebes-the-city in the domain of Amun". It was also known as "the tomb of Ozymandias" (derived from User-Maat-Re) which it was referred to by Diodorus Siculus. Strabo called it the "Memnonium", which it was also known as by Napoleon`s expedition. Champollion was the first to call it the "Ramesseum". View of the Ramesseum from a hot air balloon. Copyright of Diane Day. Originally there were two temples and a palace, as well as administrative buildings. The temple`s pylons were built of stone and not of mud-brick, which had been the case previously. The great statue, "Ozymandias" was the largest free standing statue ever made in Egypt. The head and shoulders of the fallen colossus of Ramesses II at the Ramesseum. Copyright of Diane Day. The remains of the colossal statue lie at the side of the Osiride columns of the 2nd court at the Ramesseum. A view through the hypostyle hall towards the fallen colossus at the Ramesseum. Copyright of Diane Day. The complex did not continue as a temple for very long, as it was used as a necropolis for the Theban clergy and a burial place for princesses and Divine Adoratrices by the 22nd dynasty. The Ramesseum had many of it`s walls, pillars and other parts dismantled from the 29th dynasty onwards for use in other buildings. Some blocks were used in late parts of Medinet Habu. The remains of the temple were used as a Christian church in the 1st century AD.. It was during this time that many of the reliefs were attacked with hammers and graffiti painted on it`s walls. Due to flooding of the temple and erosion of the foundations, the temple`s entrance pylon collapsed. It`s remains lie crumbling at the front of the first court. This pylon was originally decorate with scenes from the Battle of Kadesh (1285 B.C.). The remains of the first pylon of the Ramesseum to the left of the photograph. Copyright of Diane Day. The north side of the court was originally lined by pillars and on it`s south side was a columned portico which stood in front of the temple`s palace. The giant statue of the king was originally set at the back of this court, flanked by a statue of Queen Tuya, Ramesses II`s mother. The second court was reached by stairs from here. The second pylon is also in a bad state of repair. It`s southern wall is partially covered by the broken remains of the toppled statue. The northern wall is decorated with more scenes from the "Battle of Kadesh" and also scenes from the "festival of Min". Wall relief showing scenes from the Battle of Kadesh on the North wall of the second pylon at the Ramesseum. Copyright of Diane Day. The second court originally had a portico on three sides. On it`s eastern and western sides were statues of the king as Osiris against the pillars. More colossi were erected here too, although only the black granite head of one is still there. Belzoni removed the upper part of another, known as the "Younger Memnon", in 1816 and is now in the British Museum. View of the Osiride columns and the black granite head of the colossi that used to stand here in the second court of the Ramesseum.Copyright of Diane Day. A closer photo of the granite head remaining from the colossi in the Ramesseum.Copyright of Diane Day. The hypostyle hall contained 48 papyrus columns. It was lit by high clerestory windows, similar to those in the hypostyle hall at Karnak temple. On the eastern wall are scenes of Ramesses II and his sons attacking the Hittite fortress at Dapur. The western wall has scenes of the king before the gods. The hypostyle hall at the Ramesseum.Copyright of Diane Day. A close up of some of the columns in the hypostyle hall at the Ramesseum. Copyright of Diane Day. The "astronomical room" or "hall of the barques" is behind the hypostyle hall. Scenes from the "Beautiful Feast of the Valley" decorate the walls and the ceiling shows the constellations and decans (divisions of the night sky). Behind this is the "hall of litanies" where there are scenes of Re-Horakhty and Ptah. A further 8 columned room was behind this where the god`s personal barque was kept as well as the sanctuary. The sanctuary has been destroyed, but it is thought that it was flanked by chapels of the royal cult on one side and the solar cult on the other. One of the wall reliefs showing Ramesses II sitting beneath the sacred "Ished" tree. His name and years of his reign are been written onto the leaves by the gods, to facilitate eternal life for the king. Copyright of Diane Day. Wall relief at the Ramesseum showing various Egyptian gods. Copyright of Diane Day. On three sides of the temple is a large maze-like collection of magazines and administrative buildings. Within the magazines were the temple stores. A view of the Ramesseum`s storerooms and magazines from a hot air balloon. Copyright of Diane Day. Another view of the Ramesseum from the air showing it`s administrative buildings and magazines surrounding the temple. Copyright of Diane Day. All content on this page unless otherwise specified © Diane Day 2001-2004