Facade of the Pronaos of the Temple of Edfou (Edfu)

...Around this cloister the priests ambulated, sheltered from the burning sun of Egypt, and where now a poor weaver is seen to work, shadowed by the screen which had sheltered the Pharaohs from the same sun - unchanged in thousands of courses since the erection of the Temple; and unchanged in its effects and influences from a period long antecedent to the existence of any temple, any people, any social state in the land of Egypt. There are no ruins so complete in the valley of the nile as those of Edfou, none by which the decorative taste of its architects can be so justly appreciated. Karnak is more severe than dendera, more florid than Edfou - less severe than the former, this is more beautiful and pure than the latter. Not one of the temples of Egypt made a stronger impression for its beauty and picturesqueness upon our artist than that of edfou.

Last modified on 11 April 2005