The Temple of Dendur originated from the west bank of the Nile River in Egypt. Although the temple was built under the rule of the Roman emperor Augustine around 15 BCE, the temple is still referred to as ˜Egyptian' because it possesses many traits and elements of a typical Egyptian Temple. Its situation in the Metropolitan Museum succeeds at simulating and conjuring the same notions as though it were still on the west bank of the Nile. Several aspects of the display of the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum contribute to this success. .
The first essential element of the display is the reflective pool that symbolizes the reflective Nile that it once stood before. On approaching the Temple, the pool is one of the first things you see. Regardless of the modernity of the methods and materials for bringing light and water, these features give the temple some sense of place and builds context for the realization that this was some structure devoted to religious practices. The stippled wall of glass evokes the light of the Temple's original site- Nubia. The focus is most definitely on the temple and reverence and appreciation of the temple as you approach the monumental structure. .
Function and program of the site are also very crucial to analyzing the Temple of Dendur. The entrances act on the same axis, but creating an even more frontal axiality is the pair of pharaoh figures that sit below the temple level and seem to be apotropaic figures. The building is designed to be very frontal but the location of it within the museum nulls that frontal experience. The stairs on the sides do not give priority to any entrance; the stair allow you to approach the temple from multiple angles. Then movement toward the larger structure suggests progressive exclusion. As you proceed from one to the other the entrance is less permitting of large crowd or massing of people. The aforementioned is one of the key concepts in temples of its time - the usage of path along a progressional axis and progressive exclusion.
