Karnak
Great Courtyard
After entering the Great Courtyard, you can see a mud-brick ramp on the right, certificate of interrupted work on the construction of the pylon. The courtyard is almost a square (84 on 99,5 m). It is surrounded on two sides by a column portico from the times of Sheshonq I. (XXII dynastia). Most of the columns on the left are not decorated. Almost in the center of the northern wall, behind the column, there is a very interesting so-called. magical image of Amun. In the open courtyard, sphinxes with ram heads were placed under the columns, from the eighteenth dynasty to the Ptolemaic period.
Right on the left side of the courtyard there is a triple barge chapel from the time of Seti II by the pylon (XIX dynastia), stop for barges with statues of the gods. It is made of quartzite and gray sandstone. My facade 7 m in height, the top edge is crowned with a torus and a cornice. The reliefs on the walls show Seti II making sacrifices to the Theban gods. The chapel has three deep barge halls: Mut (on the left), Amona (in the center) i Chonsu (on the right). The Mut Sanctuary has two niches in the back, and the reliefs show a barge with a deity.
There are three niches in the central chapel, and the reliefs represent the barge of Amun.
In the Khonsu chapel there are two niches on the back wall and an additional three on the eastern wall. From this chapel there are stairs to the roof. Opposite the Chapel of Seti II is the sphinx, which may have belonged to Tutankhamun.
In the center of the courtyard there is a huge, lonely 21-meter column, remnant of the Taharki kiosk (25 dynasty), who usurped Psametik II (26 dynasty). The kiosk consisted of 10 slender papyrus columns connected at the bottom by screen walls. Today, apart from the column, there is still a block of quartzite, serving as a pedestal.
Temple of Ramesses III (XX dynastia), the last of the great pharaohs of Egypt, it is a barge chapel and lies in the southern part of the Great Court. The interior is accessed through a pylon with a cornice integrated into the walls of the courtyard.
Two colossi of the king made of red sandstone stand in front of him (6 m).
Behind the pylon the first courtyard with eight Osirian statues opens, which on the west side wear the Red Crowns of the North, and in the east – The White South. The inner walls are decorated with Christmas scenes and religious texts. Next is the vestibule with the pillars of Osiris.
On the eastern side is an inscription bearing the royal name of Ramses III, Mut's name is shown below (vulture). At the back of the pillars there is a row of papyrus columns with bud-shaped heads. There are remains of the statues of Sakhmet made of black granite. Further on is the hypostyle hall with two rows of four columns with papyrus bud-shaped heads.
At the rear of the Grand Courtyard is the Second Pylon and the vestibule preceding it. Two colossi of Ramses II stand in front of the pylon (one survived only in the lower part). Before them, there is a great statue of Ramses II with a small figure of Bint-Anath (Bent’anty), royal daughter and queen. This statue was usurped in turn by Ramesses VI (XX dynastia) and Pinocchio I (XXI dynastia). The Second Pylon was started in the time of Horemheb, and it was completed only in the time of Seti I. (or Ramesses I.). It has now been partially dismantled.
W 1820 r. Henri Chevrier discovered Akhenaten's colossi and blocks of stone, the so-called. talatat from the destroyed solar temple of Aten. Stairs lead upstairs (in the north tower).
Great Hypostyle Hall
It is hard to imagine the temple of Amun without the Great Hypostyle (99,4 on 52 m) starting just after the Second Pylon. This is the largest hypostyle hall in the world: they shoot at the sky 134 papyrus columns.
12 the middle columns are larger (po 21 m), and their capitals are open papyrus umbels. Their enormity is evidenced by the fact, that it can fit freely on the head of the tallest columns 50 people! These columns were erected in the times of Amenhotep III and Horemheb. Others are a later addition.
The inner walls of the hypostyle hall are covered with numerous reliefs. The northern half of the room from the time of Seti I has convex reliefs, while Ramses II ordered the southern walls to be finished in a concave relief. Subsequent work was done hastily and less subtly. On the north wall of the Second Pylon from the inside of the hypostyle are four rows of reliefs with ritual scenes engraved in the, when the central nave was not yet surrounded by columns. In the first scene of the fourth row, Ramses I is seen offering water to Montu, Atum, Su, Tefnut, Mug, Nut, Osiris and Isis. Originally, the scene depicted the sacred barge of Amun flowing a river barge into Luxor. In other scenes from the time of Seti I, two shoulders of Amun are depicted. In the west corner of the north wall, in the second row, you can see the king in the blue crown of chepresz, sacrificing Montu on his lap, who wields the scepter and the sign of the atich. The king offers three papyrus stalks and a bouquet of blooming lotuses. The lower register only shows the prow of the Khonsu barge with the falcon god, crowned with a solar disc over a crescent moon. Above this barge is the Mut barge. Inside the naosu (on the right), crowned with a solar disk with ureus, you can see Amun's barge. Further on the right, the King is kneeling in front of Amon, and the vulture Nekhbet is flying over the ruler. The King offers bread to Amon, roasted geese and a bouquet of blooming lotuses, for which he receives "life, durability, strength and a heart as big as Re ". Close to the north door you can see the Amon barge again, accompanied by the Mut and Khonsu barges. In the upper scene, Amon-Re is sitting on a lotus, and his head is adorned with ram's horns and a crown of atephs. He is surrounded by two winged deities crowned with solar discs and holding a Maat feather in their hands and the symbol of life.. Right in front of the Third Pylon, in the second row, there is a scene with a king kneeling in front of a persea tree.
The ruler has a blue helmet on his head, and in his hand he carries the scepter of heka. Behind him stands Thot with the head of an ibis and writes down his mystical name (Menmaatre). The figure of the king has been reworked several times (the ruler was taller and differently clothed). Above the tree are the symbols of Maat and the sun disk of Re with two crowned ureuses.
In the eastern part of Khnum, he makes young Ramses on a potter's wheel. Below is the coronation of Ramses, before which Nekhbet stands, followed by Horus of Behcdct. Wajct,
Lady of the North, stands behind Ramses, and Thoth holds the crown. Then the king with a scepter heka uiechacha kneels in front of the persea tree. Ramses carries the symbol of the holiday of Sed, which Amon had given him. To the west there are scenes from the festival Sed - the famous run in front of the bull Apis. In the following scenes, Ramses makes offerings to the gods: the kneeling king is accompanied by Thoth and Horus. And on this wall are Amon's shoulders. Another series of important scenes is preserved on the west side of the hypostyle door. The top row shows catching wild birds in a papyrus thicket, in which the god Thot helps. In the middle row, the king stands with Amon and Montu. The gods hold scepters and a special gate opener in their hands, symbol Chonsu. There is also the goddess of scripture Seshat with the symbol of the holiday Sed.
Thoth records everything in the annals of eternity. In the lower register, the blue-crowned king stands in front of Amun's barge.
At the corner of the south wall of the Second Pylon in the lower row of reliefs is the image of the king as an old man in a great naose.
On the left there is a deity with a crescent moon on his head. Seated Amon holds a scepter and a palm leaf, a sign of many years lived, and draws out to the king signs of renewed kingship. Mut blesses the king, holding a double palm leaf, and in the left hand eight symbols of the holiday Sed. Above, the king offers Amon an oryx gazelle on the altar, one of the forms of presenting Set. The whole relief is the next scenes from the Sed holiday.
In the last scene in front of the gate of the Second Pylon, in the bottom row there is an image of the king with the Red Crown standing astride in front of Montu, Lord of Thebes.
On the back there are symbols of a scorpion and a king's ka as a bull.