Cruises to Qena (Dendera), Egypt

Things to do in Qena (Dendera), Egypt

A stop in Qena is a day at Dendera, where the Temple of Hathor can be explored from its crypts to its roof. Here is what to see:

♦ The Temple of Hathor at Dendera

The temple that stands today was begun in 54 BC under Ptolemy XII, and its great columned hall was added under the Roman emperor Tiberius. It sits inside a large mudbrick enclosure wall, and visitors have long been able to explore almost all of it, from the crypts to the roof. It is the reason for the stop, so give it most of your time ashore.

♦ The restored painted ceilings

A long restoration, carried out between 2005 and 2021, cleaned away centuries of soot from the great hall and brought back the painted colors on its walls and ceilings. The ceilings are among the temple's highlights, so look up as you walk through.

♦ Cleopatra and Caesarion

On the outer back wall of the temple, a large relief shows Cleopatra VII, the last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, with her son Caesarion, carved in the traditional Egyptian style. Walk around the outside of the temple to the rear to find it.

♦ The Dendera zodiac

A circular carving of the sky, with the signs of the zodiac, once decorated a ceiling in the temple. The original was taken to France in the 1820s and is now in the Louvre in Paris, and a copy has taken its place in the temple.

♦ The crypts

Beneath the temple lie narrow crypts with twelve chambers, carved with reliefs, including the scenes nicknamed the "Dendera light". They are thought to have stored sacred vessels and images of the gods, and they are one of the parts of the temple visitors can enter.

♦ The birth houses

Within the enclosure stand two birth houses, known by their Egyptian name of mammisi. The older was built by the pharaoh Nectanebo II in the 4th century BC and is the oldest building on the site, and the younger dates from Roman times, with scenes of the emperor Trajan making offerings.