Karnak

[Josie Linde]

Karnak (Arabic الكرنك El-Karnak, in ancient Egypt was named Ipet Sut, "the most venerated place") is a small village in Egypt, located on the banks of the River Nile some 2.5 km north of Luxor. Visitors to the area – particularly foreign tourists – perceive no distinction between Luxor and al-Karnak, as the two are both parts of the same conurbation (see the map).

The Karnak Temple is twice the size of the built-up village area, and it is the leading attraction in al-Karnak; essentially this is al-Karnak, as the term Karnak is nearly universally understood as the temple complex and not the village.

[Josie Linde]

Map of Karnak, showing major temple complexes

[Josie Linde]

The temple area is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world, and is probably the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo.

It consists of four main parts, of which only one is accessible for tourists and the general public. This is also the "main" temple part and by far the largest part. One can probably on that basis redefine the term Karnak, as to be understood as being the Precinct of Amon-Re only, as this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts are closed to the public.

There are also a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amon-Re and Luxor Temple.

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction work began in the 16th century BC. Approximately 30 pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the individual features of Karnak are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming.

[Josie Linde]

Interior of Temple

[Josie Linde]

 
First pylon of precinct of Amun viewed from the west

[Josie Linde]

A picture taken by Francis Frith in 1856, of a Hall of Collums in Karnak, Egypt.

[Josie Linde]

Precinct of Amun-Re


The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main enclosed areas that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these and the only one that is open to the general public. The temple complex is dedicated to the principal god of the Theban Triad, Amun, in the form of Amun-Re.

The site occupies roughly 250 000 m², containing so many structures and monuments. Some parts of the complex are closed or semi-closed, partially large parts of the North/South Axis (VIII, IX, and X Pylon), as they are under active excavation or restoration. The whole southeast corner is semi-closed. The northwest corner is a museum that requires an additional ticket to visit.

Most of the southwest is an open-air-assembling area with millions of stone fragments, from small to huge, laid out in long rows, awaiting reassembly into their respective monuments. The area is not closed, as the temples of Khons and Opet both lay in this corner and are open to the public, though both are rarely visited considering the immense number of tourists coming to Karnak. Also in this area can be found the housing of the Akhenaten Temple Project, a sealed up long building, which contains all the remains found of the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, (Akhenaten).

[Josie Linde]

Map of the Amun-Re Temple

[Josie Linde]

First pylon of Karnak

[Josie Linde]

Great Hypostyle Hall, Karnak



The Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak, located within the Karnak temple complex, in the Precinct of Amon-Re, is one of the most visited monuments of Ancient Egypt.

The hall covers an area of 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m²). The roof, now fallen, was supported by 134 columns in 16 rows; the 2 middle rows are higher than the others (being 33 feet (10 m) in circumference and 80 feet (24 m) high).

The hall was not begun by Horemheb, or Amenhotep III as earlier scholars had thought but was built entirely by Seti I who inscribed the northern wing of the hall with inscrptions. Decoration of the southern wing was completed by Ramesses II. A series of later pharaohs added inscriptions to the walls and the columns in places their predecessors had left blank, including Ramesses III, Ramesses IV and Ramesses VI. The north side of the hall is decorated in raised relief, and was mainly Seti I's work. The southern side of the hall was completed by Ramesses II, in sunk relief although he used raised relief at the very beginning of his reign before changing to the sunk relief style and re-editing his own raised reliefs there. Ramesses II also usurped decoration of his father along the main north-south and east-west processional ways of the hall, giving the causal observer the idea that he was responsible for the building. Most of Seti I's reliefs in the northern part of the hall were respected however.

The outer walls depict scenes of battle, Seti I on the north and Ramesses II on the south. Although these reliefs had religious and ideological functions, they are important records of the wars of these kings. On another wall adjoining the south wall of the Hall is a record of Ramesses II's peace treaty with the Hittites that he signed in Year 21 of his reign.

[Josie Linde]

Entrance to the Hypostyle Hall

[Josie Linde]

Column in the Great Hypostyle Hall

[Josie Linde]

Thutmose III smiting his asiatic enemies

[Josie Linde]

Thutmose III & Hatshepsut's ob

In a narrow court, there are several obelisks, one which dates from Thutmose I, and is 21.2m high and weighs nearly 150 tons. Just beyond this is the remaining obelisk of Hatshepsut, nearly 30m in height. Later kings blocked out the view of this from ground level, and constructed walls around it. The companion to this lies broken, by the sacred lake.

[Josie Linde]

The obelisk of Hatshepsut between the 4th and 5th Pylon, 18th dynasty