In yesterday’s post about the Karnak Temple Complex, we focused on the walk into the Amun-Re precinct and the first courtyard. Today, we’ll explore the Great Hypostyle Hall, which easily could have its own series of posts.
The first thing that we notice about the Great Hypostyle Hall is the massive scale of this part of the structure. Here we’re walking towards the hall, as we’re crossing the 2nd Pylon…
The Great Hypostyle Hall consists of 134 columns in 16 rows with the middle rows being the tallest at 24m high and 10m circumference. These columns supported a roof and covered an area of 5,000m2 (54,000 sq.ft.).
Looking up to the sky along these columns, we can imagine what the impact on worshippers of Amun-Re might have been…
The 134 columns represent a primeval papyrus swamp from which Atum, the primordial God in Egyptian mythology, arose from the waters of Nun, the oceanic abyss. This is part of the ancient Egyptian creation myth. The hall itself was created during the height of Seti I.
Here, we get a sense of how small we are among the papyrus swamp…
Even though the hall was built during Seti I’s reign, a keen observer will notice that many of the cartouches are from Ramses II. This is due to decorations of the southern wing being completed during Ramses II’s time.
We can also see that there were windows up high in the transition from the taller center rows to the outer rows of columns…
The level of detail in the decorations is astonishing, as we can see here…
A project has been under way to restore the vibrance of the colors by removing the layers of soot and dirt that obscure the beauty of the decorations and hieroglyphs. Also in these images we see the new roof sections that have been placed to give a sense of what the original might have looked…
Looking at the immensity of scale and the exquisite skill of the architects and artisans, we can’t help but stand in awe of this hall that was built more than 3,000 years ago.
More to come and we’ll go into some of the finer details in future posts.