The temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri site, Necropolis of Thebes, Egypt

"After the death of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut herself assumed pharaonic power and privilege, and for the construction of a temple for her cultus she selected a majestic half-circle of cliffs bounding the western end of the desert plain of Asasif. There stood the tomb and temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep, the Eleventh-Dynasty king who had reunited Egypt. Hatshepsut's clever architects admirably surmounted the difficulty by designing a temple on three levels, whose upper steps covered the underlying gravel slope. The three levels were linked by straight ramps along the temple's central axis." [Haeny G., 1997: New Kingdom 'Mortuary Temples' and 'Mansions of Millions of Years'. Temples of Ancient Egypt. Cornell University Press]. "Ancient Thebes spanned the Nile River. The east bank is the site of modern Luxor and El Karnak, and was formerly the city of the living, with great temples and residences. On the west bank was the city of the dead, the "Necropolis of Thebes," containing the valleys of the royal tombs, royal mortuary temples, and the houses of priests and workers devoted to the dead." [The J.P.Getty Fund: Thesaurus of Geographic Names]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from January 8, 1947 to end of June 1947.