Picture Gallery
Karnak Temple
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The biggest temple in the world, it was built for the God Amun and spans over 100 acres. Located in Luxor, it took 2,000 years to complete as each pharaoh and queen expanded it.
The sacred lake of the Karnak temple. You can see the hypostyle hall beyond it as well as pylon I. Pylon VII is on the far left, part of the processional avenue between the temple of Amun and the temple of Mut. On the far right are the Obelisks of Tuthmosis I and queen Hatshepsut.
"Avenue of the Sphinxes" (Dynasty XIX, 1275 B.C.) is a processional of ram-headed sphinxes that line the way from the river to the entrance of the temple of Amun-Ra. The route is laid out on a direct east-west axis.
This picture shows the Avenue of the Sphinxes as well as the right side of the entrance to the temple.
A great aerial shot of the Avenue of Sphinxes.
This is the great hypostyle hall at Karnak (Dynasty XIX, 1318-1237 B.C.). It is lined on each side with six enormous columns 75 feet high with lotus-blossom capitals. The passageway continues directly along the east-west axis.
These are side columns with lotus-bud capitals south and north of the central passage. They are shorter than the main columns and set at closer intervals. Light comes through windows above the taller columns.
This picture gives you a great perspective on the size of the columns at the Karnak.