Deir el-Hagar Temple

Deir el-Hagar is a sandstone temple of the Roman period at the western end of Dakhla Oasis, in the New Valley Governorate of Egypt's Western Desert, not far from the town of Al-Qasr. The temple was dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, and the god Thoth was also worshipped there.

Construction began under the emperor Nero in the first century AD. Decoration continued under later emperors whose names appear on the walls, among them Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. After the temple was abandoned, sand covered much of it and part of the roof collapsed. It was restored in the 1990s as part of the work of archaeological missions active in the oasis.

Visitors enter through a gateway in the mud-brick enclosure wall that surrounds the temple, then pass through a columned hall to the sanctuary, whose ceiling was decorated with astronomical scenes. The columns and walls also carry names carved by European travellers who came to the site in the nineteenth century. The temple is among the better preserved Roman monuments in the oases.