Three years after the 4th symposium on the Egyptian Royal Ideology (British Museum, London, 2004; published as volume 4.1 of the series Königtum, Staat und Gesellschaft früher Hochkulturen) the follow-up took place in Cambridge in 2007. The 5th symposium was hosted by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge in cooperation with the Institute for Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Mainz. The general theme of the congress was determined by archaeological aspects of Egyptian Royal Residences. Palace and Temple: Architecture – Decoration – Ritual put two primary elements of royal residences into focus. Lectures and discussions were dedicated to the interior of the residences, namely to decoration and worship. The volume comprises the most important lectures of the Cambridge symposium and thus draws attention to specific aspects of Egyptian residence research.