Athena Review Image Archive ^™ 

This albumen print by Francis Frith shows the ruins of a Coptic church which was built inside the interior or second court of the Temple of Ramesses III. This church was ,  destroyed sometime prior to initial excavations at Medinet Habu by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, beginning about 1855, when a number of Coptic features were removed or destroyed, and when unfortunately few records were kept.

The destruction of the Coptic church had already taken place in 1838, when David Roberts sketched the site, followed by Maxime du Camp who visited and photographed the site in 1849. Both show essentially the same scene of fallen columns as in this image taken by Frith in 1857.