Templo de Debod: An Egyptian Temple at Sunset
Why is it significant?
Walk across the grass to the edge of the long pool and look at what stands reflected in it: two stone gateways, and behind them a small temple of golden sandstone, carved with the gods of ancient Egypt. In a park in Madrid. Above a city of churches. It never stops being surreal.
Key Facts
| Place | Templo de Debod: An Egyptian Temple at Sunset |
|---|---|
| Address | Calle de Ferraz 1, 28008 Madrid, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.42410, -3.71760 |
| Part of Walk | Dukes, Monks and an Egyptian Temple: Madrid's Conde Duque to Templo de Debod |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk across the grass to the edge of the long pool and look at what stands reflected in it: two stone gateways, and behind them a small temple of golden sandstone, carved with the gods of ancient Egypt. In a park in Madrid. Above a city of churches. It never stops being surreal.
This is the Templo de Debod. It was begun in the second century before Christ by Adikhalamani, a king of Meroë in Nubia, and dedicated to the god Amun and the goddess Isis. Ptolemaic kings and later Roman emperors added rooms and carvings, so the walls carry the work of several dynasties. For more than two thousand years it stood on the banks of the Nile, south of Aswan.
Then came the Aswan High Dam, and the rising waters threatened to drown the temples of Nubia. UNESCO launched an international rescue, and Spain sent archaeologists and money to help save monuments such as Abu Simbel. In thanks, Egypt gave Spain this temple in 1968. It was dismantled, shipped across the Mediterranean block by block, more than a thousand stones, and rebuilt here. It opened in 1972, facing east to west as it always had.
The hill it stands on has a darker memory. Here stood the Cuartel de la Montaña, a large army barracks. In July 1936, at the start of the Civil War, officers inside joined the military uprising, and the barracks was besieged and stormed, with many killed. The ruined building was later cleared away, and the park and the temple now cover the site.
Now turn to the west. This is the best sunset in Madrid: the sky over the Casa de Campo turns orange, then pink, the mountains of the Sierra darken on the horizon, and the old stones of Debod glow. From a poet's flowers to a pharaoh's gods... the walk ends here. Stay until the light goes.