The Metropolitan Museum of Art is something of a teleportation device: in the five minutes it takes to walk from the street through the museum to the permanent exhibit known as the Temple of Dendur, you can leave bustling 21st-century Manhattan behind for Ancient Egypt, where the sandstone wonder once stood, in situ. On the first Monday in May, masses of celebrities will enter this portal to dine along the West Bank of the Nile as the Temple plays host to the biggest party of the year—the Met Gala. During the course of the evening, Dendur will undergo its own transformation, becoming a stage for music’s biggest talents (in past years, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, Katy Perry, and Lenny Kravitz).
But, how did the Temple of Dendur travel nearly 6,000 miles from Nubia, Egypt to New York? Below, read a history of the Temple and its encounters with the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Nora Ephron, and Cate Blanchett.
23 — 10 BC: Construction
Following his defeat of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, the Roman emperor Augustus built temples to Egyptian deities to legitimize his rule in the region. In 23 BC, Augustus commissioned the Temple of Dendur for that purpose.
Built from Aeolian sandstone, it is covered, inside and out, in reliefs of gods including Isis and Osiris, and vegetation growing from the Nile. (And 19th-century tourists carved graffiti alongside some of the original images.) Size-wise, it’s relatively small, for temple standards at the time, with an area of about 336-square feet and a height of 43 feet.
An 1870 photo of the Temple of Dendur in its original location.
1960s: Removal from Egypt and Move to New York
In early 1960, the Egyptian Government began construction of the Aswan High Dam in order to regulate the annual flooding of the Nile. As a result of the Dam, the newly created Lake Nasser would fully flood a number of temples, including the Temple of Dendur. UNESCO launched a campaign, «Save the Monuments of Nubia,» to preserve the temples by storing and removing them. When the funds were secured, the Egyptian government disassembled the temples block-by-block and granted them to countries that made major donations to the project, including Sudan, Italy, Spain, and the United States. The US alone contributed $16 million, which would be more than $153 million today. Jackie Kennedy is widely believed to have been a driving force behind the donation, having promoted the cause with President Kennedy (though she is said to have campaigned fervently for its installation at the Smithsonian, rather than the Met).
In what was called «The Dendur Derby» by several news outlets, various cultural institutions competed for the chance to acquire and exhibit the Temple. Ultimately, the Met won, in part because its plan would put the building inside of the museum itself, thereby securing the temperature for the soft sandstone. The Met defeated the Smithsonian in DC and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which planned to place the Temple in the Banks of the Potomac and Charles Rivers respectively. On April 20, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson made it official: the Temple of Dendur was heading to New York.
1978: The Temple Opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Once the Met was chosen as the Temple’s new home, a new wing was built on the museum’s west side to house it. The wing was named in honor of the Sackler family, who contributed a large portion of funds to its construction. Then, the temple stones were loaded into crates and placed on a ship headed to New York, where it was officially welcomed by Jackie Kennedy. As it was originally oriented, the Temple was positioned toward the East and surrounded by water.
1989: When Harry Met Sally
Scene: A curtain wall covers the west side of Gallery 131, offering one of the most spectacular views in New York. It’s fall, and the fiery oranges and bright yellows of park foliage are illuminated and visible through the gallery’s wall of windows, as captured by Nora Ephron in When Harry Met Sally. Leads Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) goof around while walking through the Temple and the Egyptian galleries, backlit by the splendor of a Central Park fall. It’s the type of scene that just makes you want to live in New York.
2018: Nan Goldin Protests the Sackler Family at the Temple of Dendur
Photographer Nan Goldin led a protest at the Temple in April 2018 as part of a global movement to remove the Sackler family name from arts and education institutions. The Sacklers, who had helped finance the gallery’s construction, made a fortune from pharmaceuticals, including OxyContin. At the protest, dozens of anti-opioid activists tossed pill bottles into the water surrounding the Temple. As a result, in 2021, the wing began to be identified as «Gallery 131» rather than the Sackler Wing.
2018: Ocean’s 8
Few of us will ever have the opportunity to attend a Met Gala (though the Temple regularly plays host to corporate and charitable events), which means watching 2018’s Ocean’s 8 might be as close as most of us will ever get. In the movie, the Temple becomes a crime scene as Sandra Bullock’s ring of bandits steals the Cartier “Toussaint” necklace right off the neck of Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway). In a memorable moment, Sarah Paulson’s Tammy—who is working undercover as a Vogue party planner—retrieves the massive diamond necklace from the waters surrounding the Temple. During the film’s press tour, the Temple became a backdrop for a morning appearance by cast members including Bullock, Cate Blanchett, and Mindy Kaling.
2025: The Met Gala
Throughout its 2,000-year journey, the temple has traveled across oceans and had millions of visitors, yet its most famous role continues to be as the site of the Met Gala (even though the party is sometimes held in the Museum’s Charles Engelhard Court). On May 5th, the Temple will once again play host to the party of the year.
Guests at the 1981 Met Gala.
While the Temple will be closed off for about a week preceding the gala, beginning on Sunday May 4th, the larger Egyptian galleries remain open. If you’re headed to the Met and still hoping to get a peek, go up to the Japanese Galleries—transportive in their own right—and in room 232 you will find a picture window that looks straight out over the Temple. Nearly every other day of the year, though, the Temple is open to explore. We recommend Friday or Saturday night, when the museum stays open until 9:00 PM. Under the Central Park moonlight, the whole gallery glows.
Dorothy Scarborough (she/her) is the assistant to the Editor in Chief of Town & Country and Elle Decor.
