Karnak Temple Complex

After lunch, we moored up in Luxor and took the bus to visit Karnak Temple. Driving through Luxor, we were struck by how much cleaner and cosmopolitan it looked than Cairo. It would have been nice to have a little more time to explore the city itself.

As it was, we went straight to the temple. The main 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 began in the Middle Kingdom (2000 - 1700 BC) and continued into Ptolemaic times (305 - 30 BC). About 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 worshipped to those worshipped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture.

The most famous part of Karnak Temple is the Great Hypostyle Hall with its 134 massive columns arranged in 16 rows. It is an incredible sight! 122 of these columns are 10 metres tall, and the other 12 are 21 metres tall with a diameter of over 3 metres. The architraves on top of these columns are estimated to weigh a massive 70 tons. Experts believe the Ancient Egyptians moved them by building large ramps of sand and mud and then towed the stones up them.

We were at Karnak as the sun was setting - the perfect light to photograph the temple.Read more