The temple is located in the town of Sa Costa 'e Sa Binza, leaning against a steep schist wall, where the spring flows, in a wild valley in the Nuoro area, in central-northern Sardinia.
Su Tempiesu is a monument of exceptional interest as it is the only original evidence of the elevated structures and of the covering of wells and sacred nuragic springs. In this case, it is a sacred source, in an isodome work, built with perfectly worked trachyte and basalt ashlars connected with the aid of lead scrapes. The stone material used in the construction of the monument was transported from afar: the surrounding region, in fact, is affected by granite and shale outcrops.
The temple (height 6.85 m) is formed, according to the usual architectural form, by a vestibule, a staircase and a cell that collects water from the spring vein. The vestibule, quadrangular in plan (depth m 1.60; width m 1.85/1.30; height m 4.50) and with a slightly sloping floor, has projecting walls, made of large slabs with perfect joints. Two monolithic arches, perhaps with a static but also decorative function, are inserted in the upper wall structures. The monument's roof is exceptional, consisting of a double-sloped roof with a double gutter carefully carved into the blocks of volcanic rock.
The roof culminates in an acute triangle tympanum, with a double frame, on which rested an acroterium, consisting of a truncated pyramidal shell, which supported twenty bronze votive swords embedded in as many holes with small flows of lead.
At the base of the side walls of the vestibule there are two seat counters while two small rectangular cabinets for offerings are saved at a certain height in the masonry. On the back wall, the entrance leads to a small staircase (depth m 0.80; width m 0.87-0.45), trumpeted to the outside, consisting of four steps. The staircase leads to the small “tholos” chamber (diameter 0.90 m; height 1.82 m), which protects the spring vein and which shows a paved floor with a settling dimple in the center.
During periods of flood, the water that overflows from the well is drained - through a channel made of the blocks of the threshold and on the slabs of the vestibule floor - into a second, small fountain built inside a wall structure in front.
This structure, with a very irregular curvilinear pattern, is built at the base with well-worked trachyte and basalt blocks, which are superimposed by a structure of thin shale slabs, probably built at later times.
In the wall, two niches are created and some protruding plates are inserted to serve as a function of placing the offerings.
The second small fountain (diameter 0.65 m; height 0.90 m) is built at the base of this external enclosure: it is a well equipped with a steatite channel, equipped with a finely worked dripper. The room is dominated by a monolithic arc of volcanic rock, now very eroded, while at the bottom a dimple, similar to the one in the main fountain, allows decanting.
In the cockpit, numerous bronze votive offerings have been found (pins, votive stilettos, pendants, bracelets, rings, necklace strings, crinal needles, amber necklace elements and, above all, figurines depicting bidders, warriors, characters with cloaks and command sticks).
Other offerings were kept in some closets made of natural indentations in the rock reinforced by retaining walls.
The materials have made it possible to reconstruct the phases of construction and use of the cultural complex: the monument was built in the final stages of the recent Bronze Age and was frequented until the Early Iron Age, when a landslide caused its abandonment.

History of excavations
It was excavated for the first time in the fifties of the twentieth century by Godeval Davoli. Subsequent excavation and restoration work was directed by Maria Ausilia Fadda in the years 1981-86 and in 1998.

Bibliography
G. Lilliu, “New Well Temples of Nuragic Sardinia”, in Studi Sardi, XIV-XV, 1955-57, p. 244 ff.;
M.A. Fadda, “The Temple a Pozzo di Su Tempiesu (Orune, Nuoro)”, in Journal of Prehistoric Sciences, XXXVII, 1982, p. 284 ff.;
M.A. Fadda, “The Temple at the Well of Su Tempiesu (Orune, Nuoro)”, in The Nuragic Civilization, Milan, Electa, 1985, p. 284 ff.; V. Santoni, “The Temples of the Nuragic Age”, in The Nuragic Civilization, Milan, Electa, 1985, p. 181 ff.;
The sacred fountain of Su Tempiesu, series “Archaeological Sardinia, Guides and Itineraries”, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 1988;
M.A. Fadda, “Su Tempiesu di Orune and the Nuragic cult of the Waters”, in Living Archaeology, XVIII, 74, 1999, pp. 78-83.

How to get there
Leave the town of Orune and follow the signs for Su Tempiesu. Once you are near the cemetery, turn into a small paved road that leads, after a few kilometers, to the entrance of the archaeological area. Leave the car and proceed on foot along a downhill path that, after a few hundred meters, ends in front of the fountain.