This mortuary temple was dedicated to Ramses II. It contains the fallen colossus that inspired Percy Bysshe Shelleys poem, Ozymandias. Scenes from the king’s great Battle of Qadesh (in which only Ramesses II’s personal valor saved the Egyptians from ignominious defeat at the hands of the Hittites) adorn the first and second pylons.
The plan of the temple is typical for the New Kingdom. Behind the pylons are courts, and then a pillared hall filled with columns in the form of marsh plants, and finally a bark shrine for the sacred boat of the god and the inner sanctuary.
The remains of the complex include a royal palace and a large number of mud-brick granaries and storerooms, as well as a small temple dedicated to Ramesses’ mother, Tuya, and wife, Nefertari. It is also likely that there was a school for scribal training in the complex, as evidenced by a large pile of Ostraca.