Few remaining temples date from before the New Kingdom. The majority that are visited today date from the Graeco-Roman Period or the New Kingdom. Many kings also contributed to one specific temple for sometimes as long as 2000 years, extending and rebuilding all the time. The Graeco-Roman temples are also in a much better condition than the earlier temples, but the paintings and reliefs on the walls were very often damaged by the first Copts (Egyptian Christians), and later inhabitants of villages inside these temples.
One of the most beautiful temples of the Graeco-Roman Period is the temple of the Isis of Philae that was reconstructed on the island of Agilkia to protect the temple buildings from the rising waters of the High Dam. The temple functioned as an Egyptian temple for many years after a Roman decree closed all other temples. Even after Christianity came to the area, local Nubians continued to worship Isis here. The last recorded hieroglyphs were written here in 394 CE. Even Napoleon’s presence was recorded.
Temple architecture: The temple formed the focus of a great cluster of buildings and estates at the centre of each community. It was not a place of worship for the common people as known in the Christian religion, but was dedicated to a specific god. It therefore housed the statue of the god to whom offerings were made daily, and only the pharaoh and the priests could enter the temple. The estates surrounding the temples were managed from here, and employed many local people.
At the front of each temple, stood a massive pylon (Greek = doorway/gate). Often obelisks and colossal statues of the kings, who built the temple, were placed in front of the pylons.
The front courtyard (one or two) stood open to the sky, with columns with lotus or papyrus capitals, around the sidewalls.
Beyond the open court(s), a doorway lead into a roofed, columned hall, the hypostyle hall. The only light within the hypostyle hall came through clerestory bars.
The outer wall of an Egyptian temple was always rectangular, but the rooms within become smaller the deeper into the temple one moves. Deep in the heart of the temple was the sanctuary, standing at the highest and deepest point. Here was the shrine or naos within which stood the statue of the god.