TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT: BRINGING BACK THE LIGHT OF A QUEEN

By Noemi Barbero

🇪🇸 SPAIN

CategoryLighting Project Design

Date of Completion18/09/2025

Location of ProjectLuxor, Egypt (Ancient Thebas)

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Lighting Performance & Usage Context

Category - OTHERS: Heritage lighting for night visits and the enhancement of Ancient Egyptian cultural heritage: light archaeology at the Temple of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, New Kingdom, 15th century BC.

Project Description

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, built in the 15th century BC against the Theban cliffs, is one of Egypt’s most iconic monuments. The project’s originality lies in its “light archaeology” approach: light acts as a reversible narrative tool, revealing and transmitting the temple’s architectural and symbolic legacy while reconstructing the ritual journey from the earthly to the divine. Warm layered lighting (3000 K for volumes; 2700 K, CRI >90 for reliefs and sacred spaces), custom optics and shielding precisely model the architecture while preserving shadow. Over 600 Aswan sandstone bases were hand-sculpted by Egyptian artisans, integrating luminaires without drilling and creating local skilled work: today’s craftsmen continue the material dialogue begun by the temple’s ancient builders. Concealed cabling and controlled upward light preserve the monument and desert nightscape, enabling nocturnal public access through a sustainable, fully reversible intervention.

Project Leader

Noemi Barbero

Design Team

Víctor Barbero

Image Credits

MC Zumalacárregui, Pixis

Collaborators or Teams

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt (Client), Varona Professional Lighting (luminaires and installation)

Studio / Company Name

VBNB Lighting | Víctor Barbero & Noemi Barbero

Profile

VBNB Lighting is an award-winning architectural lighting design studio based in Madrid, founded by Víctor Barbero and Noemi Barbero. With over 20 years of experience, the studio specialises in heritage lighting and "light archaeology": using light to reveal, preserve and transmit architectural legacy, from UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Egypt to Spain's most emblematic monuments and beyond.

Company Website

www.vbnblighting.com/