The mortuary temple, or the funerary temple, were designed and built to commemorate the reign of the Pharaoh, as well as for use by the king's cult after his death. The mortuary temple of Ramesses III was the centerpiece of a much larger complex comprising of a number of support structures like residentail buildings, store houses, cult chapels some of which were earlier buildings as well.

The temple, some 150 meters long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the nearby mortuary temple of Ramesses II (the Ramesseum). The temple precinct measures approximately 210 meters (690 feet) by 300 meters (1,000 feet) and contains more than 7,000 square meters (75,347 square feet) of decorated wall reliefs. Its walls are relatively well preserved and it is surrounded by a massive mudbrick enclosure, which may have been fortified.

circa 1150 BCE

European Era
The first European to describe the temple in modern literature was Vivant Denon, who visited the temple in 1799-1801. Champollion described the temple in detail in 1829. Initial excavation of the temple took place sporadically between 1859 and 1899, under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities. During these decades the main temple was cleared, and a large number of Coptic period buildings, including a substantial Coptic Church in the second court, were destroyed without notes or records being taken.

circa 1150 BCE

First Pylon
The first pylon leads into an open courtyard, lined with colossal statues of Ramesses III as Osiris on one side, and uncarved columns on the other. The temple dates back to the New Kingdom period, and its most famous for its vast amount of well preserved reliefs and massive statues of Ramesses III. The main facade faces the southeast and is asymmetrical. A Ptolemaic Pylon juts out on the right side of the facade. The pylon, recently restored, is brightly decorated with a winged sun-disc.

circa 1150 BCE

Courtyard of the Feasts
The second court also known as the "Courtyard of the Feasts" was a peristyle hall situated just inside (north of) the second or inner pylon. The porticos on the east and west sides are decorated with eight Osirid columns (most of the statues are now lost), while those to the north and south are supported by large columns in the form of papyrus scrolls.

During the Coptic Christian period this courtyard was converted in to a basilica, and was called "Holy Church of Djeme". The church had a north-south orientation cutting across the original axis of the temple and was provided with a font and a well, placed at the southern end of the central nave. The church was dated between the 5th and the 7th century CE by Monneret de Villard, while Grossmann suggested an attribution to the middle or second half of the 6th century CE. Before the clearing of the temple at the end of the 19th century, much of the Coptic town was still visible as it was left after its abandonment in the 9th century. The settlement's religious buildings, including the Holy Church of Djeme, were damaged over time, with one of the Ramesside columns on the east side removed to accommodate the apse and the Osiris pillars cut away since they were inappropriate in a Christian building. Sparse graffiti and damage are all that remain after the removal of the church in modern times.

circa 1150 BCE

Hypostyle Hall
The roof in the hypostyle was originally supported by 24 columns with the eight forming the aisle being thicker. Today only the bases remain. The ceiling was raised over the central aisle, as it was in the Temple at Karnak and the Ramesseum.

circa 1150 BCE

Kings' List
The memorial temple, also called the "Temples of a Million years", of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu contains a minor or brief list of pharaohs of the New Kingdom of Egypt (ruled circa 1570-1069 BCE). The inscriptions closely resemble the Ramesseum king list, which is a similar scene of Ramesses II, which was used as a template for the scenes here. The scene shows Ramesses III participating in the ceremonies of the Festival of Min where statues of ancestral kings are carried in an elaborate procession to make offerings to Min. It contains 16 cartouches with the names of nine pharaohs divided into two parts.

The nearly faded outline of the scene was published by Vivant Denon in 1802 CE, who was part of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798 to 1801 CE, which subsequently published a slightly more detailed scene in 1809 CE. Thirty years later, the complete scene including the cartouches of the kings was published by John Gardner Wilkinson in 1837 CE, followed by Champollion and Lepsius. All the 19th-century CE editions contain omissions and errors, but in 1940 CE the Epigraphic Survey published the definitive (and complete) rendering of the scenes. The scene is divided in two parts, on the left side, 7 statues of ancestors are being carried in a procession. The right side is led by nine kings.