The bakery of an Amarna period temple

At the southern end of the royal road in Akhet-Aten, a brick enclosure once stood as a sanctuary. For a long time, its ruins were thought to be those of a Roman military camp, but excavations conducted between 1988 and 2000 revealed the remains of an Amarna period stone temple with a garden and subsidiary buildings, including a bakery and a brewery.

The site is located near the ancient city of Akhet-Aten and is very similar to Maru-Aten. It is likely to have been a sun temple and is possibly identical with the sunshade temple of Nefertiti mentioned on the boundary stelae. The complex consists of a brick enclosure with an area of 228x213 m, divided into two unequal parts by an east-west wall.

In the northern part of the enclosure, brick ovens were found, suggesting a bakery and brewery. Traces of a building known as the northern shrine were also found. Most of the northern part was overbuilt by a 5th-6th century Christian monastery that reused the original walls. Because of this, the southern part is better preserved.

The southern part contains several excavated buildings, including a stone-floored pylon, a rectangular Southern Pavilion surrounded by sunken gardens, and a central platform with a building including a columned hall. In the southeast corner of the southern enclosure stood a group of houses in two sets, with garden plots.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons