Egypt Museum

barque

The Temple of Edfu’s Inner Sanctuary

Tucked away at the very heart of the Temple of Edfu lies its most hallowed chamber, the inner sanctuary; a space imbued with divine presence and ritual potency. Here, enshrined in reverence, once rested the sacred barque of Horus, the falcon-headed god of kingship and the sky. This ceremonial boat, born aloft during great religious...

Antelope Head from a Ceremonial Boat

This finely carved antelope’s head, once affixed to the prow of a sacred ceremonial boat, hails from the hushed sanctuaries of an Egyptian temple. Hewn from hard stone (perhaps diorite or greywacke) it would have adorned a ritual barque, gliding not upon the Nile but along the sacred imaginations of the priests who summoned the...