Temple of Debod, Madrid Guide

One of the more unique sights of Madrid is the ancient Egyptian Temple of Debod. The 2,200 year old temple dedicated to Isis was unfortunately in the flood valley behind the Aswan Dam on the Nile River.

The temple was dismantled stone by stone in 1963 and presented as a gift to Spain in 1968 in thanks of their help to save import temples of the region.

The Temple of Debod was reassembled in the Parque del Oeste but the Egyptian government neglected to provide decent diagrams so that the present day temple’s gates are ms-ordered.

The Temple of Debod is located in the Parque del Oeste and the closest metro station is Ventura Rodríguez or Plaza de Españaor. The temple is within walking distance of the Royal Palace and is sensible to visit both sights in one trip.

There is no entrance fee to for the temple but opening times are erratic shutting for 4 hours at lunch and not open on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Generally, the temple is open in the morning from 10am until 2pm except for Monday when it is not open at all.

The Temple of Debod was originally 15 km south of the present day city of Aswan in the ancient town of Debod that sat on the banks of the River Nile. The oldest section of the temple was constructed by Ptolemy IV Philopator approximately 200BC and was dedicated to the gods of Amón de Debod and Isis.

The temple was presented by the Egyptian government to the Spanish country in recognition of their assistance during the technical stages of the construction of the Aswan Dam and processes of saving the important temples of the region that was flooded by the lake formed behind the dam.

There were four main countries that secured the temple of Abu Simbel and lesser ones in Nubia, the USA, Holland, Italy and Spain. Each country was provided with a gift a temple from the valley to be flooded.

The Department of Antiquities of Egypt made the task of resembling the temple difficult for Martin Almagro, the chief Spanish archaeologists, as limited pictures were provided with no references to the thousands of blocks stored in the shipping containers.

The single map and rough sketch of the elevation of the monument resulted in the main gates being mis-ordered but the direction of the temple is true to its original position.

The upper floors of the temple exhibit the massive construction and the transportation project.

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