Great Court
During the New Kingdom, the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak was the
most important place of worship in Egypt. (Amun-Re was King of the
Gods and father to the pharaoh.) The entire temple complex covers an
area of nearly 75 acres, and there are two other, smaller complexes
within the Karnak precinct. The farther back one walks in the Temple
of Amun-Re, the older the structures become, so this initial Great
Court is one of the more recent constructions.
You start by facing west towards the First Pylon, a massive wall
372 feet wide. Look at its base for the remains of an
earth-and-mud-brick ramp, which ancient workers used to haul stones
up during the gateway's construction. Swinging around the right
(north), you'll see the bottom half of a huge column. It is the only
one remaining of the Kiosk of Taharka, a seventh-century B.C.
Ethiopian pharaoh; the kiosk once boasted 10 such columns and held
processional barks.
To the right of the column, near the palm tree, stands a
50-foot-high statue of Ramses II. To the east are the ruins of the
Second Pylon, begun by the pharaoh Horemheb and finished by Ramses
II, and to the south lies the entrance to the Temple of Ramses III.
In the image as a whole, see if you can locate the Shrine of Seti I,
a small temple with two visible doors.
Great Hypostyle Hall (N. side)
The Great Hypostyle Hall is one of the most magnificent monuments
of ancient Egypt. Possibly begun by Amenophis III, this veritable
forest of soaring pillars was continued by Seti I and finished by
Ramses II. Covering an area of 7,200 square yards, it is large
enough to contain Notre Dame Cathedral.
When you enter from the Great Court you're facing south towards the
heart of the temple In the background center of the image, outlined
against the sky, stands one of the soaring central columns. Two rows
of these massive, 69-foot-tall columns range east-to-west down the
central gallery. All the other pillars you see as you rotate around
comprise some of the Hall's 122 lower columns.
As you explore, look for the sun discs, depicted by a circle, that
are carved into many of the columns. Also, can you find the
architrave-a rectangular block that sits atop and connects columns -
with hieroglyphs that still bear traces of origenal paint? Hinit:
You might need to zoom in to see them.
Great Hypostyle Hall (S. side)
The English writer Amelia Edwards, who traveled through Egypt in
the 1870s, described Karnak as "a place ... of which no writing and
no art can convey more than a dwarfed and pallid impression." The
same is true of these 360° images; the only real way to gain a sense
of the vastness of the Great Hypostyle Hall is to walk through it
yourself. But until you can get there, we hope images like this will
suffice.
When you enter from the hall's north side, you find yourself facing
east, with the obelisk of Tuthmosis I silhouetted against the rising
sun. Swing around to the right and admire the forest of pillars in
the Great Hypostyle Hall to the south and west. Gazing at these
massive columns, you can understand why Gustave Flaubert, on his
visit to karnak in the 19th century, called the temple "a palace of
giants."
Can you find the grid-like structure high atop two of the pillars?
you'll need to be facing north, towards the center asile of the
Hall, which follows the east-west direction of the early-morning
sunlight. These grid-like "claustra," or openwork windows in stone,
once lined the sides of the centeral gallery and allowed shafts of
light to angle pleasingly into the interior.
Obelisk Court
Between the ruined remains of the Third and Fourth Pylons lies the
narrow court of Amenophis III. He built the Third Pylon, while
Tuthmosis I erected the older Fourth Pylon, which was the front of
the temple during his reign. Tuthmosis I and his grandson Tuthmosis
III raised four obelisks in this court, of which just this one
remains.
You start by facing north towards the obelisk of Tuthmosis I. If
you look carefully, you can see that it leans slightly to the left.
To the right of it—that is, beyond the ruins of the Fourth
Pylon—rears the obelisk of the pharaoh Hatshepsut, the largest still
standing in Egypt. After the death of her father Tuthmosis I in the
early 15th century B.C., Hatshepsut declared herself "king" and
ruled for 20 years, erecting a pair of obelisks here. (The second
one toppled, and its upper portion lies nearby.)
As you swing around to the east, you'll see the ruined hulk of the
Fourth Pylon. Due west, you can get a good view of the Great
Hypostyle Hall, with the central, paired rows of 69-foot columns
visible between the two palm trees. Have you noticed the lighting
fixtures? They come into play during the sound-and-light show put on
most nights at Karnak Temple.
Great Court
During the New Kingdom, the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak was the
most important place of worship in Egypt. (Amun-Re was King of the
Gods and father to the pharaoh.) The entire temple complex covers an
area of nearly 75 acres, and there are two other, smaller complexes
within the Karnak precinct. The farther back one walks in the Temple
of Amun-Re, the older the structures become, so this initial Great
Court is one of the more recent constructions.
You start by facing west towards the First Pylon, a massive wall
372 feet wide. Look at its base for the remains of an
earth-and-mud-brick ramp, which ancient workers used to haul stones
up during the gateway's construction. Swinging around the right
(north), you'll see the bottom half of a huge column. It is the only
one remaining of the Kiosk of Taharka, a seventh-century B.C.
Ethiopian pharaoh; the kiosk once boasted 10 such columns and held
processional barks.
To the right of the column, near the palm tree, stands a
50-foot-high statue of Ramses II. To the east are the ruins of the
Second Pylon, begun by the pharaoh Horemheb and finished by Ramses
II, and to the south lies the entrance to the Temple of Ramses III.
In the image as a whole, see if you can locate the Shrine of Seti I,
a small temple with two visible doors.
Temple of Ramses III
This nearly 200-foot-long temple features three bark chapels, a
hypostyle hall of eight columns, a vestibule with four columns, and
an open court (within which this view was taken). The court is
surrounded by statues of Ramses III in his Jubilee vestments.
Jubilees were typically celebrated in the 30th year of a pharaoh's
reign and every five years thereafter.
You start facing south toward the temple proper, with coloums
visible within its dark recesses. Moving aroundto the right, you'll
see that the most complete remaining statue of Ramses III out here
in the court show him in Osirid from. Osiris, the good of the dead,
is traditionally depicted in mummy from, with a crook and a flail.
Continue moving to the right and you'll come to the doorway back to
the Great Court, with the status of Ramses II in view.