Karnak Temple

The first pylon of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak



Sphinxes at the entrance of Karnak Temple

The Karnak Temple Complex comprises a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amen and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1391–1351 BC). An ancient sacred lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some 500 km south of Cairo, in Egypt. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex takes its name from the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5 km north of Luxor.




Entrance to the temple of Ramesses III

The complex is a vast open-air museum and the largest ancient religious site in the world. It believed to be the second most visited historical site in Egypt, second only to the Giza Pyramids near Cairo. It consists of four main parts (precincts), of which only the largest, the Precinct of Amun-Re, currently is open to the general public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Re only, because this is the only part most visitors normally see. The three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few smaller temples and sanctuaries located outside the enclosing walls of the four main parts, as well as several avenues of goddess and ram-headed sphinxes connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re, and the Luxor Temple.




The Temple of Ramesses III


The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, but not yet restored. The original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatsheput, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have been carried away for use in other buildings.




Ramesses II at Karnak 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 of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty 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. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshiped to those worshiped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Although destroyed, it also contained an early temple built by Amenhotep IV, the pharaoh who later would celebrate a near monotheistic religion he established that prompted him to move his court and religious center away from Thebes. It also contains evidence of adaptations, using buildings of the Ancient Egyptians by later cultures for their own religious purposes.

One of most famous aspects of Karnak, is the Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, a hall area of 50,000 sq ft (5,000 m2) with 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. 122 of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters.






The Great Hypostyle Hall at the Temple of Amun

The architraves on top of these columns are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers. This would be an extremely time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory about how they were moved is that there were large ramps made of sand mud brick or stone and the stones were towed up the ramps. If they used stone for the ramps they would have been able to build the ramps with much less material. The top of the ramps presumably would have either wooden tracks or cobblestones for towing the megaliths.








The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes and its changing role in the culture. Religious centers varied by region and with the establishment of the current capital of the unified culture that changed several times. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the Eleventh Dynasty and previous temple building here would have been relatively small, with shrines being dedicated to the early deities of Thebes, the Earth goddess Mut and Montu. Early building was destroyed by invaders. The earliest known artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided temple from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re. Amun (sometimes called Amen) was long the local tutelary deity of Thebes. He was identified with the Ram and the Goose. The Egyptian meaning of Amen is, "hidden" or, the "hidden god".

Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the Eighteenth dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified Ancient Egypt.

Thutmose I erected an enclosure wall connecting the Fourth and Fifth pylons, which comprise the earliest part of the temple still standing in situ. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall also may have begun during the eighteenth dynasty, although most new building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II.

The last major change to Precinct of Amun-Re's layout was the addition of the first pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surround the whole Precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I.

In 323 AD, Constantine the Great recognised the Christian religion, and in 356 ordered the closing of pagan temples throughout the empire. Karnak was by this time mostly abandoned, and Christian churches were founded amongst the ruins, the most famous example of this is the reuse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III's central hall, were painted decorations of saints and Coptic inscriptions can still be seen.

Almost every pharaoh of that dynasty added something to the temple site. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court, the start of the processional route to the Luxor Temple.


The small area between the Third Pylon and the Fourth Pylon, which was during the time of Tuthmosis I the front of the the Temple of Amun at Karnak, is sometimes referred to as the Obelisk Court or the Court of Amenhotep III.







Hatshepsut had monuments constructed and also restored the original Precinct of Mut, the ancient great goddess of Egypt, that had been ravaged by the foreign rulers during the Hyksos occupation. She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple. One still stands, as the tallest surviving ancient obelisk on Earth; the other has broken in two and toppled. Another of her projects at the site, Karnak's Red Chapel, or Chapelle Rouge, was intended as a barque shrine and originally, may have stood between her two obelisks. She later ordered the construction of two more obelisks to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh; one of the obelisks broke during construction, and thus, a third was constructed to replace it. The broken obelisk was left at its quarrying site in Aswan, where it still remains. Known as The Unfinished Obelisk, it demonstrates how obelisks were quarried.






The obelisks at Karnak

To the south of the girdle wall of Ramesses II at the Temple of Amun at Karnak in ancient Thebes (modern Luxor) is a rectangular Sacred Lake, dug by Tuthmosis III. It is the largest of its kind, that we know of, and is lined with stone and provided with stairways descending into the water. It measures some 120 meters (393 feet) by 77 meters (252 feet). We believe that most temple precincts included a sacred lake. Water from the lake, filled with groundwater, was used by the priests for ritual ablutions and other temple needs, and was also home to the sacred geese of Amun. However, it was symbolically important in the ancient Egyptian's concept of creation, representing the primeval waters from which life arose. Like all the monuments at Karnak, according to Legrain, it to has its legend:




View of Karnak Temple from the Sacred Lake

The relatively complete Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III lies beyond the central court, which retains some of the most interesting and unusual features to be found at Karnak. This structure was built as a sort of shrine to his ancestral cult, including himself. Named the "Most Splendid of Monuments", the entrance located on the building's southwest corner was originally flanked by two statues of the king in festival attire. It leads into an antechamber with storage magazines and other rooms on the right and left of the temple's great columned hall. Around the perimeter, the roof is supported by square pillars, though in the central section there are curiously shaped columns that imitate ancient tent poles. They are probably symbolic of those in his actual military tents, though it is possible that they recall similar structures from earlier religious buildings. During the Coptic Christian Period between the fall of the ancient pagan religion and the Muslim invasion of Egypt, this building was reused as a church, evidenced by haloed icons that may still be seen near the tops of several columns. Other rooms within the building were dedicated to his ancestors, the god Sokar, the sun god in his morning manifestation and to Amun. In the chapel of Amun, there is a massive quartzite pedestal that once supported the shrine of that god. The vestibule of this temple is also well known as the "Botanical Room" having depictions of exotic flora and fauna that Tuthmosis III encountered on his military campaigns.




The Temple of Turthmosis III

Gallery