Temple of Debod
A real 2nd-century BC Nubian shrine that Egypt shipped to Madrid as a thank-you for saving Abu Simbel.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Madrid offline.
Egypt donated this temple to Spain in 1968 — gratitude for Spanish help rescuing the Abu Simbel temples from the Aswan High Dam reservoir. Rebuilt stone by stone in Parque de la Montaña by 1972, it is the only ancient Egyptian temple in Spain. Construction spanned a Kushite king, three Ptolemaic pharaohs, and the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius.
What to look for
- Three stone pylon gateways along the processional approach before the temple entrance
- The void where the pronaos stood — its four composite-capital columns collapsed in 1868 and are now gone
- The compact 12-by-15-metre body of the temple, which started as a single-room Amun chapel built by the Kushite king Adikhalamani
The temple sits in Parque de la Montaña in central Madrid.
Temple of Debod is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Madrid, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Madrid pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Madrid
- BernabéuThe only stadium on earth to host both a UEFA Champions League final and a Copa Libertadores final — and the first in Europe to crown both a World Cup and a Euro.
- Museo del PradoThe Spanish royal collection — 7,600 paintings accumulated over centuries — opened to the public in November 1819 and never looked back.
- Metropolitano StadiumThe pitch that staged the 2019 Champions League final will host another in 2027 — and is shortlisted for the 2030 World Cup.
- Royal Palace of MadridThe original Alcázar burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1734 — what the Bourbons built in its place is the largest palace in Western Europe.
- Museo Reina SofíaGuernica — Picasso's 1937 painting of wartime devastation — hangs here at full scale, in person.
- Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy)A duke's private library meeting in 1711 grew into the institution that still rules what counts as correct Spanish — for Spain and 22 other Spanish-speaking nations.