Deir El Medina in Luxor, was constructed to host the workers and artists who built and painted the tombs of the Kings and Queens of Egypt.
The town was laid out in a rectangular grid pattern with a surrounding protective wall.
There were 68 houses inside the wall and more outside on the mountain slopes, for less-skilled workers.
The earliest ruins at the site date from 1520-1492 BCE
One of the most big differences between Deir el-Medina and other villages was that it was not self sufficient. Because the inhabitants were artists, not farmers, they could not produce their own food. There was also no well, so water had to be imported from the Nile every day.
Behind the town of Deir El Medina, on the slopes of the mountains, the workers and artists constructed their own tombs.
These tombs had a mud-brick pyramid entrance and a burial chamber which was decorated with paintings.
Also in the Deir el-Medina Complex is a 3rd century BC temple, dedicated to the Goddess Hathor.
The temple was built on top of the location of several earlier temples mainly for the workers
In the past it was taken over by Copts who turned it into a monastery giving Deir Al-Medina its modern name, which means Monastery of the Town.
