thumb|Temple complex drawing, 1817
thumb|Photograph of the temple, 1867
The Temple of Dendur (Dendoor in the 19th century) is a Roman Egyptian religious structure originally located in Tuzis (later Dendur), Nubia about south of modern Aswan. During his reign, Augustus had Egyptian-style temples built and dedicated to Egyptian gods and goddesses. However, he only commissioned a few temples in Nubia. One of those was the Temple of Dendur which he placed on the west bank of the Nile river in Tuzis (later Dendur, about south of modern Aswan). It was more than a temple—it was also a home for the gods. The Smithsonian Institution proposed erecting the temple on the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., while the Boston Museum of Fine Arts preferred the banks of the Charles River in Boston. However, the commission rejected these suggestions because the temple's sandstone would suffer from an outdoor environment.
New Wing at the Met
To accommodate the temple, the Met added a new wing to its flagship building. In 2021, The Met also decided to drop the name Sackler from the building's wing, After the name changes the space housing the temple is, as of March 2023, just Gallery 131, and the former Sackler Wing remains unnamed.
Architecture
The Temple of Dendur is a modest example of a temple from the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, with roots in earlier Egyptian architectural style.