Temple of Debod ~ an ancient Egyptian temple in Madrid Spain 🇪🇸

Hi all 👋🏻

With my next post into the Architecture+Design Community I want to show you this ancient Egyptian temple in the city of Madrid, Spain.

It is located in the La Montaña Park ~ Parque de la Montaña in the city of Madrid.
On Google maps see the yellow star ⭐️:

Close by the Royal Palace as you can see.

I visited this ancient temple on my trip to Madrid 13 March 2022 not that long ago and I just had to go and see it. As I heard / read much about it.
Photographs are taken with my iPhone as my DSLR camera died. But I think they came out well 😇

Let me tell you first a little bit more about this ancient Egyptian temple and why it is in Spain before I show you my walk around it.

More information You can find in this website!

It states; ”The Temple of Debod (Spanish: Templo de Debod) is an ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt in the center of Madrid, Spain, in Parque de la Montaña, Madrid.

The shrine was originally erected 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Aswan in Nubia. In the early 2nd century BC, Adikhalamani (Tabriqo), the Kushite king of Meroë, started its construction by building a small single-room chapel dedicated to the god Amun.
It was built and decorated in a similar design to the later Meroitic chapel on which the Temple of Dakka is based. Later, during the reigns of Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII, and Ptolemy XII of the Ptolemaic dynasty, it was extended on all four sides to form a small temple, 12 by 15 metres (39 ft × 49 ft), which was dedicated to Isis of Philae. The Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius completed its decorations.

From the quay, there is a long processional way leading to the stone-built enclosure wall, through three stone pylon gateways, and finally to the temple itself. The pronaos, which had four columns with composite capitals, collapsed in 1868 and is now lost.
Behind it lay the original sanctuary of Amun, the offering table room and a later sanctuary with several side-rooms and stairs to the roof.

In 1960, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam and the consequent threat posed by its reservoir to numerous monuments and archeological sites, UNESCO made an international call to save this rich historical legacy.
As a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the Abu Simbel temples, the Egyptian state donated the Temple of Debod to Spain in 1968.

-aha 💡now we know why it is in Spain 🤓

The temple was rebuilt in one of Madrid's parks, and opened to the public in 1972. The reassembled gateways have been placed in a different order than when originally erected.
Compared to a photo of the original site, the gateway topped by a serpent-flanked sun was not the closest gateway to the temple proper.
It constitutes one of the few works of ancient Egyptian architecture that can be seen outside Egypt and the only one of its kind in Spain.”

So thats why I just had to visit this unique site on my first trip to Madrid 😎

Let’s go back to the Temple of Debod!
I will show you what I saw as we walk towards it and around it…

We start our walk below the park and we walk by this statue/ monument.

Monumento al Pueblo del Dos de Mayo de 1808.
Google maps tells us:

We walk further and see steps up the mountain.
Half way up the steps I photograph this tree that just started to bloom 🌸🌸🌸 The first signs of spring.
How beautiful this season can be…

At the top of the stairs we reach the La Montaña Park ~ Parque de la Montaña in the city of Madrid and see:

The Egyptian Temple.

As it just had rained during the night and the morning, there was still some water left in the reservoir to give me some stunning reflections. 😎😊

Let’s have a closer look at the temple.

It looks magnificent!

Next to us when we turn around we see the park and people enjoying the spring sun. Especially after some rainy days.

Let’s walk to the front of the temple.

Such an interesting structure… don’t you think?

We walk further and wait till no people walk under the pylon gateways.

It is hard to find a moment without people… but I am patient for you… so let’s wait 😉 toem tie toem… 🕰

Not yet…

Still there… the people I mean. Almost…

But, they slowly go I see… yes 😎 I can take now some photographs without people.

There you go 😉😁

It’s breathtakingly cool. To stand in Madrid and be amongst an Egyptian temple.
I didn’t go inside as the waiting line was just to long to enter, and as I read, outside is what you really want to see anyway.

Let’s walk further…

View from this angle.

A little bit further and looking back. You see the large buildings from Plaza España.

Behind the temple 2 ducks 🦆 are enjoying the sun and water.

Let’s continue our walk… as we walk through the park a little further.

As it is located high up, the views over Madrid city are stunning.

I thought let’s include a few views.

The building on the top left is the Royal Palace.

We walk a bit further and see it better through the trees. 🌴🌳

Some blossoms on the trees and the Royal Palace in the background.

Here… some steps down…

And this last photograph ends your walk and mine will continue towards the Palace. Bye bye 👋🏻 Until next time!
I promise I will show you more from the Palace and Madrid city and all it’s architectural gems another time 😉 So stay tuned…

Hope you enjoyed my photos of this temple in Madrid, Spain from not that long ago as much as I did. Thank you for looking and reading 😊 🙏🏻

Any questions or comments, let me know. Always happy to help.

Have a great day all 😎
Grtz Jackie

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Unless stated otherwise: All art and photos used in my posts are taken, created and owned by me. If you wish to use any of my photographs, please contact me first. As I have used some commercially myself. We don’t want that you or somebody else gets into trouble 😉 So please don’t use them without my consent.

!pinmapple 40.424171 lat -3.717768 long Temple of Debod ~ an ancient Egyptian temple in Madrid Spain 🇪🇸 d3scr