Senenmut, Queen Hatshepsut's Architect, designed the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It was set at the head of a valley overshadowed by the Peak of the Thebes, the "Lover of Silence." A tree lined avenue of sphinxes led up to the temple, and ramps led from terrace to terrace. The porticoes on the lowest terrace are out of proportion and coloring with the rest of the building. They were restored in 1906 to protect the celebrated reliefs depicting the transport of obelisks by barge to Karnak and the miraculous birth of Queen Hatshepsut. Reliefs on the south side of the middle terrace show the queen’s expedition by way of the Red Sea to Punt, the land of incense. Along the front of the upper terrace, a line of large, gently smiling Osirid statues of the queen look out over the valley. In the shade of the colonnade behind, brightly painted reliefs decorate the walls. Throughout the temple, statues and sphinxes of the queen are proliferate. Many of them have been reconstructed, with patience and ingenuity, from the thousands of smashed fragments found by the excavators.
Pam Gregor