Su Tempiesu was an important Nuragic sacred spring temple dedicated to the cult of water. The constructional precision of its distinctive double-pitched roof, still well preserved, makes it a unique architecture in Sardinia.

The temple stands against the rocky wall of sa Costa 'e Sa Binza, a short walk from the village of Orune, in the Nuoro area.

Originally, water sprang from a natural fissure in the rock: a simple enclosure of large, roughly hewn stones, perhaps covered with straw, marked the area. The construction of the temple, in the Bronze Age (13th century BC), transformed the spring into a sacred place, frequented by the surrounding communities.

The architecture is made of stone blocks of uniform height and thickness, known as the isodomic technique. The roof is only partly preserved: its present appearance results from a consolidation intervention that ensures the stability of the structure and makes the original construction technique legible.

The frequentation of the sacred spring reached its peak during the early Iron Age, witnessed by the deposit of numerous votive offerings: twenty swords placed on the roof, small daggers, jewellery, dozens of pins, rings, bracelets, buttons and amber necklace elements. Finds that document not only the sacred practices of Su Tempiesu, but also the wealth of commercial and cultural exchanges with the early Etruscan civilisation along the Tyrrhenian coast.

Towards the end of the early Iron Age, the last in a series of landslides overcame the temple's defences, burying it and sealing its abandonment.