An astonishing Egyptian temple in...Madrid??

[David Paul Appell]

During my first visit to Madrid way back in 1978, strolling out near my family’s hotel near Plaza de España, I was gobsmacked to suddenly spy, of all things, an ancient Egyptian temple – right on downtown Calle Ferraz, on a platform in a reflecting pool of a park near the Oriente Royal Palace, called Parque del Oeste. The Temple of Debod is a small structure (just 39 by 49 feet/12 by 15 metres) with three chunky stone gateways leading up to it, dating back to the 2nd century BC, dedicated to Isis (the Egyptian goddess, not the terrorist “caliphate”) as well as the king of the ancient Egyptian gods, Amon-Ra. So how in the name of Anubis and Osiris, you might wonder, did it end up in Spain? Therein lies a wee bit of a tale...  keep reading