Karnak – Jubilee Temple of Thotmes III (But-menu)
Jubilee Temple of Thotmes III (But-menu)
Behind the nave there is the vast space of the Festival Courtyard in front of the Jubilee Temple of Thotmes III. This is the courtyard of the temple from the times of the Middle Kingdom. On its north side there are ruined chapels with representations of the foundation ceremony, a chapel with reliefs with the Feast of the White Hippo and the Mina Chapel.. There is an altar in the middle – a great block of alabaster.
The Great Jubilee Temple is Thotmes III's most important building initiative, erected on the site of the building from the times of Thotmes I. The room was named Ach-menu, indicating the "transformation" function. It was built perpendicular to the main axis. The entrance was from the south, flanked by two king figures in the Sed costume. It was only possible to get here through the central sanctuary of Amun-Re. The hall imitated the tent used for royal rituals of restoration of power and was associated with the festival of the King's Sed. The central nave has two rows after 10 column, and the lower aisles 32 just support. The original paintings have been preserved, but some of the polychromes are from Coptic times (church). On the east-west axis there is a chamber for the iconic statue of the king. The Ancestors' Hall adjoined the building (otherwise known as the Hall of Kings) and a series of rooms dedicated to Sokar and Amon. The Hall of Ancestors is located in the south-west corner of the Jubilee Hall, there was the so-called. royal list 62 kings of Egypt, predecessors of Thotmes III (from 1843 r. at the Louvre in Paris).
On the north-eastern side of the Festival Hall, the stairs lead to the non-existent Hourglass Hall. Next to it you can see the remains of three story chapels for the Sed celebration. Behind the back wall of the Festival Hall, reliefs from the period of Alexander III the Great have survived (sanctuary of Alexander the great), in which you can see the Macedonian being embraced by Hathor. On a quartzite pedestal in the Chapel of Amun (on the north-eastern side of the Jubilee Hall) there used to be a chapel with a statue of a god.
In the temple's vestibule there is the famous Botanical Garden with reliefs depicting the exotic fauna and flora found during the war campaigns of Thotmes III. In the room (6 on 15 m) there are four beam columns (7,5 m in height). On the south wall you can see images of birds from the West, m.in. lapwings (Vanellus cristatus), red cassette machine (Asarka rutila) and ibisa, and between them – pomegranate fruit. There is an inscription on the north wall: "Year 25 under His Majesty the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Mencheperre, forever alive, plants, which his majesty found in the land of Rechen (Syria)”.
Around the Holy Lake
The Temple of Amun is surrounded by a perimeter wall from the time of Ramses II with reliefs representing the king's sacrifice to the gods: Anioneme, Horusem, the goddess of Seshat, Hathor. Some cartouches of Ramesses II were pierced by the late Ramessis. To the south lies the rectangular Holy Lake from the time of Thotmes III (120 on 77 m). The water was used for purification and rituals (here the sacred geese of Amun splashed). There is a nilometer between the lake and the perimeter wall. At the northern corner of the lake stands a large red granite scarab from the time of Amenhotep III. On the front of the cylindrical pedestal there is a relief with a kneeling king offering dishes to Atum of Heliopolis. You can see the winged solar disk image. Local guides like telling tourists lately, that the sevenfold work of the scarab brings happiness in love. At the northwest corner of the lake are the ruins of the Osirian temple of Taharka.
There is a cafe to the east of Ozyrejon. There used to be remnants of the priests' houses there, but now they are covered with seats for viewers of the show "light and sound".