Saqqara, City of the Dead - Temple 'T' of the Netjerikhet Complex

Temple 'T'

At the East side of the South court, at some 60 metres to the North of the Entrance hall, near the passage leading to the Heb-Sed court, is a small temple, now called Temple 'T'.

This temple was a rectangular building with three delicately carved fluted columns. As was the case with the columns in the Entrance corridor and the Entrance hall, these columns were joined by supporting walls. It is believed that the niches formed between the columns may have contained statues, perhaps of the king or of some gods.

Except for a torus moulding on the South face, this building's exterior was undecorated. On the East side of this building, there was a dummy stone door in half-open position. The building's inner structure consisted of an imposing entrance hall, three inner courts and a group of side-chambers. To the North of the three columns, a niche has a lintel decorated with Djed-pillars, the same type of decoration that was found in faience in some of the rooms underneath the pyramid.

Templ 'T' with the Pyramid in the backgound

The location of this Temple T, near the corridor connection the South Court to the Heb-Sed Court has led to believe that this building was a representation of a pavilion in which the king prepared himself for the rituals of the Heb-Sed. Contrary, however, to the buildings in the Heb-Sed court, Temple T was not a dummy building and may have served another than a purely magical purpose.