Temple Qurna – Luxor. From the journey to Egypt

Temple Qurna – Luxor depicts the Mortuary Temple of Seti I at Qurna (also known as Gurna), on the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor — a New Kingdom temple partially buried in desert sand and ancient rubble. The West Bank site, containing the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and numerous mortuary temples, was a major focus for archaeological activity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Ciągliński visited when excavations were actively uncovering new material, making his 1903 paintings documents of a landscape in active archaeological transformation.

The partially buried temple creates an unusual compositional relationship between ancient stone and encroaching desert. Ciągliński renders the warm limestone against sandy ground in closely valued ochres and pinks, with cool shadows articulating the architectural forms.