This is the greatest of all Egyptian temples, occupying a site 365.5 x 110 m (1,200 x 360 ft).
Egyptian temples were not intended to be settings for public worship and prayer. Liturgy and ritual were performed by the hierarchy of priests. They were the only ones admitted to the temple’s precincts.
The layman’s exclusion is emphasised by the symbolism of a “Sublime Porte” at the entrance to the sanctuary.
The Egyptian preoccupation with an elaborate system of trial and procedure for life after death gives their monuments a funerary flavour.