The reason for the existence of the Open Air Museum, is that at the end of the 19th century, the Third pylon at Karnak, built by Amenhotep III, collapsed partly. The material from it showed to originally come from no less than eleven different buildings, which had been taken down and used as filling material. This material now forms the basis of the Open Air Museum.

The area is relatively small, you can cover it with no trouble. One wonderful advantage is that it´s a peaceful, little visited area, the hour we spent there saw only two other tourists and a schoolclass being thorouglhly lectured at the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut, the most particular of the buildings there.. Just as at home, attention strayed, waned and totally disappeared among most of these young people.

The first thing we saw was by the entrance, the newly reconstructed chapel of Amenhotep II. Perhaps the reconstruction wasn´t quite finished yet, caterpillars wove around it as we passed, heaping sand and rocks around it and smoothening out the ground. The next thing we walked along a neatly paved road which led up to a set of statues of Sekhmet:

The whole area up to the statues was filled, on both sides, with stone blocks arranged in neat rows. Another storehouse for a giant archaeological jigsaw. In the ancient days, kings often dismantled monuments to use the material in their own buildings as filling material, thus inadvertently saving some of it for the modern world to excavate and find.

Closeup. To the left a glimpse of the Red Chapel.

There was another set of three statues of Sekhmet a bit further on. They are all from the Mut Precinct. Here and there blocks with glyphs or carvings are set up by the path. This slab was a really beautiful one, but I don´t remember what it was for. Must make better notes next time.

Carefully carved out glyphs, they seem to take on their own life and soar from their background.

What we came for, was the White Chapel. This is a reconstruction of a bark shrine belonging to Senwosret I, which was found in pieces inside the Third pylon, the one built by Amenhotep III, at Karnak. All along the lower part of the outer walls are reliefs depicting the ancient sepats (nomes) of Upper and Lower Egypt.

What we came for - the White Chapel of Senwosret I.

This little building is remarkable in several ways. The carvings from the Middle Kingdom, the time of Senwosret I, are of a far higher quality than elsewhere in Karnak and show much more detail. Being earlier by ca 1000 years, later day Egyptians looked back to this period of their history regarding it as a golden age. On the western side is a list of sepat emblems and deities of Upper Egypt, and on the eastern side, the ones of Lower Egypt are depicted. The reliefs on the walls show scenes of Senwosret being coronated and embraced by Amun, Horus Ptah and Min.

On the columns: Senwosret with Horus and Min. Below: Sepats of Upper Egypt.


Closeup on the reliefs seen from the front.


Lower Egypt Sepat emblems and deities.

Several of these sepats are possible to recognize from other known sepat lists, but the reliefs are also damaged, in places big pieces have fallen off. It was interesting to see, when I came back home to my books, that the White Chapel sepats of Upper Egypt are almost identical with the list given in Hart: A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Trying to fit the Lower sepats with the list in that book, was however not that easy. Some sepats are written with differenct symbols altogether. There seems also to be signs and local deities for areas, possibly towns which are no longer known. I would love the opportunity to compare with other lists.

But there were other things to look at. Next to the White Chapel is the reconstructed alabaster chapel of Amenhotep I, also this one with fine carvings.

The alabaster chapel of Amenhotep I.



Inside: reliefs showing Amenhotep I offering to Amun. The natural layers of the stone ripples over the surface..

At the farthest end, reconstructions are going on (although no workers were there on this day) of a rather big temple or hall, for Thutmose IV. Seemingly, parts of the building had been pieced together with the help of new concrete blocks more or less in a guesswork, then remaining blocks were sought after in the environment, and fitted into the correct places. Quite a remarkable achievement.

Note the pieced in stones in the wall by the reconstructed portal.


A closeup of the frieze with the cartouche of Thutmose IV

And then there was the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut. It´s got its own page here.