A temple on the Nile
The Temple of Dendur was built between 23 and 10 BCE by the Roman governor Petronius, at the request of the emperor Augustus, who appears in its carvings as a pharaoh. It stood in Nubia, about 80 km south of Aswan, and honoured the goddess Isis and two deified local brothers, Pedesi and Pihor.
Saved from the rising water
When the Aswan High Dam was planned, Lake Nasser threatened to submerge the temple for good. It was dismantled in 1963 during UNESCO’s international campaign, and in 1965 Egypt gave it to the United States in recognition of American support for saving other monuments.
A new home in New York
The temple was awarded to The Met on 20 April 1967 and opened to the public in its own wing on 27 September 1978. A reflecting pool in front of it recalls the Nile, and a sloping wall behind recalls the cliffs. Look for the graffiti left by 19th-century travellers, including one dated 1817.



