The Karnak Temple, Egypt
Posted On December 2, 2009
The Karnak Temple compound is an extremely ancient construction, most commonly it is known as Karnak. The temple consists of a huge accumulation of cleaned out chapels, temples, pylons as well as many other buildings. Few of the notable constructions are a massive structure begun by Pharoah Amenhotep III and the Great Temple of Amen. The Karnak Temple is located near Luxor that is around 500 km towards the south of Cairo, in Egypt. The area surrounding the Karnak was the antique Egyptian Ipet-isut which means “The Most Selected of Places”. It is also the most significant place of worship of the God Amun by the Theban Triad. Karnak is division of the epic city of the Thebes. The Karnak is named after a contemporary village named el-Karnak, which is located at a distance of 2.5 km in the north of Luxor.
The multifaceted is a huge outdoor museum and the major antique spiritual location in the entire world. After the Giza Pyramids near Cairo it the second most popular as well as the most visited historical places that are located in Egypt. The place comprises four major parts which are called precincts. The largest Precinct is known as of Precinct of Amun-Re. Visits to these precincts by the general public are permitted. It is said that the term Karnak is the Precinct of Amun-Re itself, as it is the merely element that almost every visitor coming here usually see. The remaining three other Precinct are the the Precinct of Mutand, which is the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV and the other is the Precinct of Montu are blocked for public to visit. There are also many small other sanctuaries as well as temples which are located in the exterior of the surrounding walls of the four major parts, and also the numerous streets for people and the ram-headed sphinxes which connects the Precinct of Mut with the Precinct of Amun-Re and also with the Luxor Temple.
The only dissimilarity stuck between Karnak and the various other temples and the numerous sites located in the Egypt is the span of time which is involved in the usage as well as its construction. Kanark temples’ construction started during the Middle Kingdom and it sustained all the way through to the Ptolemaic times. There are just about thirty pharaohs which are given to the constructions. This enables it to have a complexity, size as well as the diversity which is not seen anywhere else. Few of the entity features of Karnak are exclusive, but number of features as well as the size is overpowering.
In Paul Lucas’ travel account in the year 1704 the very first picture of Karnak is found. It is somewhat mistaken as well as it is quite confusing to the modern eyes. Lucas had been Egypt during the year 1699 and was there up to 1703. The drawing showcases a wonderful mixture of the Precinct of Montu and the Precinct of Amun-Re which shows the construction having a base over the three enormous Ptolemaic gateways of Ptolemy IV Philopator/Ptolemy III Euergetes and the enormous length of about 113m as well as height of about 43m and thickness of about 15m, the first Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re.
Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re is one of the few well-known features of Karnak site. The hall area of the Precinct of Amun-Re is around 50,000 sq ft. It has around 134 huge columns which are placed in total 16 rows. The height of 122 columns among the 134 is about 10 meters tall, and the remaining 12 do have a height of 21 meters tall. The diameter of these columns is around three meters. The architraves which are made on the top of these numerous columns do weight around 70 tons. Levers might have been used to lift such heavy architraves at this height. This process would be surely a tremendously slow process and also a great balance would have surely required getting at such a great heights.
The Cairo International Airport located in Eygpt is the nearest placed airport from where you can take a cab or hire a car and reach the Karnak temple. The city has various options if you are planning too many days in the city. You can always avail the services of the tourist’s guides which are easily available.
The opening time of the temple site is from six in the morning to six in the evening in the summer season where as the temple is closed at 4-30 in the evening during the winter season. Winter season, which lasts from November to January is a good time if you want to visit the city. The entrance fees for every tourist is E£65.
