Deir el-Hagar, the ‘Monastery of Stone’, is a sandstone temple on the western edge of Dakhla Oasis, about 10km from el-Qasr in the desert to the south of the cultivation. In ancient times it was known as the ‘Place of Coming Home’, or ‘Set-whe’. After being buried in debris and sand for many centuries the temple has been uncovered, restored and partially reconstructed during the 1990s by the Dakhla Oasis Project with the Supreme Council of Antiquities and is now open to visitors. The temple of Deir el-Hagar represents one of the most complete Roman monuments in Dakhla Oasis.

Dedicated mainly to the Theban Triad and to Thoth, construction of the temple began during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero (AD 54-68), whose cartouche can be seen in the sanctuary. The walls also bear the names of Vespasian (AD 69-79) and Titus (AD 79-81) and the monumental gateway was decorated during the reign of Domitian (AD 81-96), although other Roman rulers have contributed to the decoration, with the latest inscription in the temple dating to the 3rd century AD.

The temple building measures 7.3m by 16.2m and has a well-preserved outer mudbrick enclosure wall where some remains of painted plaster can still be seen. The main gateway is in the eastern side of the enclosure wall, while another gateway to the south, in the temenos wall of the sanctuary, depicts many Greek inscriptions and graffito written by early travellers who wanted to record their visits to this sacred place. A processional way leading from the main gateway up to the temple entrance still has remains of round mud-brick columns which would have been part of pillared halls flanking the entrance and a few small sphinxes found in this area can now be seen in the Kharga Heritage Museum.

The entrance to the temple is through a screen wall into the wide pronaos or porch, which has two columns. A doorway leads to a small hypostyle hall containing four columns which in turn opens into a hall of offerings before the central sanctuary. The sanctuary is flanked by two side-chambers - to the south is the staircase which would have given access to the roof and to the north a storage chamber. The sanctuary itself was decorated with a magnificent astronomical ceiling, dating to the rule of Hadrian (AD 117-138), which had painted reliefs including an arching figure of the goddess Nut, representing the sky and the god Geb, who symbolises the earth. In the centre of the ceiling the god Osiris is represented by the constellation of Orion, while other astronomical features are represented by various deities whose task was to maintain the universe. The west wall at the rear of the sanctuary gives prominence to the primary gods of the temple, Amun-Re and Mut. The south wall portrays the Theban Triad of Amun-Re, Mut and Khons, as well as Seth, Nephthys, Re-Horakhty, Osiris and Isis, and Min-Re. The northern wall includes the Theban Triad alongside the Heliopolitan creator gods, Geb, Nut, Shu and Tefnut. Here also is an important representation of the Dakhla god Amun-Nakht (seen at Ain Birbiya) and an inscription from the sanctuary denotes his earliest known visit to the oasis. This desert god, who seems to have characteristics of both Amun-Re and Horus, is shown here with his consort Hathor. Thoth, another deity well-represented in the oases, is seen with his local consort Nehmetaway. These are all deities which occur in paintings in Shrine 1 at Kellis and probably at the temple at Ain Birbiya, showing that they were probably partly of local origin or variation.

Remains of other still partly-buried structures surround the temple and there is a block field to the west of the enclosure. In the immediate vicinity there is much evidence of agriculture in Roman times, including pigeon-houses. To the north-west of the temple is a Roman Period cemetery where crude human-headed terracotta coffins have been uncovered.