[1][2] Around 23 BCE, Emperor Augustus commissioned the temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and deified brothers Pedesi and Pihor from Nubia.

[3][4] In 1963, as part of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, UNESCO helped rescue and relocate the temple from flooding caused by the Aswan High Dam.

Originally named Octavian, Augustus became emperor after defeating Mark Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in 31 BCE.

[2] Part of his strategy was connecting his name and image with Isis, the primary deity in Dendur, and the local cult of Pedesi and Pihor.

[6] When the local people visited the temple and brought traditional gifts of incense, wine, cold water, clothing, food, and milk, they nurtured their ruler, Augustus, and also ensured their community's prosperity.

In 1967, the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities appointed a commission to consider applications from institutions interested in exhibiting the temple.

[6] Museums in Cairo, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee thought they were the ideal choice because their cities' namesakes were in Egypt.

[5] The commission selected the Met because it had a clear plan to locate and protect the building from the weather, pollutants, and the different environment in the United States.

[6] The Met planned to display the temple inside a building where they could replicate Egypt's high temperatures and dry climate that preserved the structure for centuries.

[2] Six years after being dismantled, the blocks were packed in 661 crates and transported to the United States by the freighter SS Concordia Star.

[10] One art critic noted, "Architect Kevin Roche has created a 'display case' as successful in what it sets out to do as the tiny temple itself.

[12] After the name changes the space housing the temple is, as of March 2023,[13] just Gallery 131, and the former Sackler Wing remains unnamed.

[7] Like the other temples in the region, it was designed by local Egyptian architects and constructed of Nubian sandstone blocks with a pink hue.

[6] The pylon is decorated with relief carvings, has rounded tori at the corners and tops of its walls, and is capped with a cavetto cornice, a common design element in Egyptian buildings.

[2] It includes two highly decorated columns with composite tops depicting lotus blossoms, a style first used in Egypt between 664 and 525 BCE.

[2] Originally separated by wooden doors, the antechamber opens into the sanctuary where the Egyptians believed the gods resided.

It stands out above the river surrounded by a wall of enclosure...The whole thing is like an exquisite toy, so covered with sculptures, so smooth, so new-looking, so admirably built.

[3] Some of those divine beings are Amun of Debod, Arensnuphis, Harpocrates, Hathor of Bigga, Horus, Isis, Khnum, Osiris, Mandulis, Nephthys, Satis, Tephenis, and Thoth.

"[1][3] The temple base has carvings of papyrus and lotus plants growing out of the Nile, symbolizing the god Hapi.

[1] The temple's outer walls feature sunk relief carvings of Emperor Augustus as a pharaoh making offerings to the deities Isis, Osiris, and their son Horus.

[1][4] The subject repeats in raised relief carvings in the first room of the temple, showing Augustus as he prays and makes offerings.

On the left side, there is a depiction of Isis standing and wearing a close-fitting sheath, a headpiece horn from a cow, and a winged disk representing the sun god.

[2] The scene on the inner south wall of the pronaos depicts the pharaoh and the two brothers Pihor and Pedesi with gifts of incense and water.

[2] The columns of the pronaos are decorated with sunk reliefs of men bringing offerings of animals and flowers to the temple.

[3] On the east side of the pylon, the relief depicts Augustus with a linen bag in his hand in front of Pedesi and Pihor.

[2] Archaeologists learned there were entry gates on the north and south walls because remnants matched the surviving pylon, which was to the east of the temple.