For instance, would anyone expect an ancient Egyptian Temple from the 2nd century BC in a park near the Palacio Real and my piso? I certainly did not when I went running through the Parque Oeste (West Park) that flank's the city center's west end back in September. Since that encounter, the Temple has become a familiar sight, albeit one with an unorthodox history.
Adikhalamani , the Kushite king of Meroë, started the project by building a small single room chapel dedicated to the god Amun near Aswan in Southern Egypt. Over the course of the next 250 years, the temple grew in size as various emperors from the Ptolemic Dynasty expanded the room and rededicated the temple to Isis. The Roman Emperors Augustus and Tiberius added decorations to complete the temple.
So how did this temple end up in Madrid? In 1960, UNESCRO made a call for donations to save archeological sites from the threats posed by the construction of the Great Dam of Aswan. The Spanish Government subsequently put forth the funds needed to save the the temples of Abu Simbel. As a sign of gratitude, the Egyptian Government subsequently donated the temple to Spain in 1968. The government of the City of Madrid subsequently turned temple into a free museum.
The Front of the Temple at Night
No comments:
Post a Comment