In a leisurely way we nose around the many blocks of stones which lie seemingly haphazardly in the first courtyard by the eastern second pylon. Most of them have carvings on one or maybe even two sides - pieces of text broken off leaving a part of the glyph hard to guess at. Will they ever find their context again - hard to say!

A block of stone with exquisitively carved hieroglyphs, on its side in the First Court.

Somehow I feel it´s a bit sad to see all these people walk by hardly noticing these bits and pieces which all are remarkable in their own way . There is never time enough for more than the most spectacular sights. A visit to Karnak in general lasts for about an hour and tourists tire easily when they don´t have a special intetrest in the place. It´s so big, there is so much to see and what you see appears mostly out of context. Guided visits are a must, or people would get absolutley nothing out of it more than aching feet and a feeling of having bumped into stone everywhere!

We stood for a while gazing up at the second pylon. Up near the top there were some steps which originally probably had led to the roof. Now they were barred. The stone block were indeed huge and you wonderd over the amount of strength and endurance it must have taken to build these temples.... Then, at little bit up the wall we saw a hole and in the hole there were a stone with hieroglyphs set - upside down.

No doubt we were seeing an example of the old habit of taking down older buildings and using the material to fill other, new monuments with.

Skirting the visiting groups which crowded the Great Hypostyle Hall, we then went to make out the rest of the pylons. The third one was built by Amenhotep III though parts of it are from the Ramesside period. This is the pylon which yielded so much material to the Open Air Museum. Blocks from both the Red and the White Chapel were found as filling inside of this pylon. Today nothing of its former splendour can be seen. Behind the Third pylon, is the branching off to to southern parts of the precincts with the series of pylons and courts.

The area of the Third and Fourth pylon, looking towards the main entrance.
The Hatshepsut Obelisk to the left.

The Fourth and Fifth pylons were commissioned by Thutmose I. They were built very close to each other in this, the oldest part of the temple. You don´t really see how it must have looked, the area is rather cramped with rests of stone walls, and blocks of stone. The Sixth pylon, or what remains of it, follows after a fairly narrow court where the two granite pillars with the emblem of Upper and Lower Egypt in the form of a lotus bud and a papyrus bud, are erected and still standing. They are exquisite and people gather around to gaze at them. On the north side of this court are two statues of Amun and Amanuet, they were put there by Tut-Ankh-Amon. Though they are damged, their serene faces still make out a beautiful effect among all the stone.

On most photos from Karnak you will see one or two obelisks sticking up out of a mass of stones. They were originally four; two were put there by the Fifth pylon by Thutmose I, the other two were erected by Hatshepsut, between the fourth and Fifth pylon. Only two of these remain at Karnak today, one of them is located in Paris, the other one in London. Maybe Hawass will want to have them back one day and have all four up again!

The area in front of the Fourth pylon. The obelisk of Thutmose stands before the one by Hatshepsut.
The area between the Fourth-Fifth- Sixth pylon is very narrow.

Two statues of Amun and Amaunet, side by side in the court by the sixth pylon.
Seen from a narrow corridor between the Shrine and the Eastern Hatshepsut room.

At this area, several chambers are still standing. The middle one of these is a Late Period Bark shrine for Amun, on the same spot as an earlier such shrine by Thutmose. Blocks from this earlier one are built into it. It is flanked by what is called the Hatshepsut cult rooms with the purpose of offerings and ritual. It is here that the Red Chapel is believed to have been located. In the eastern one of these rooms reliefs showiong Hatshepsut being purified by Horus and Thoth; they pour water over herm which streams in a shower of small ankhs. The figure of Hatshepsut has been hacked away to the degree that she is even more visible than before. On the opposite wall are depictions of offerings, flowers and sacrifcial animals. At one place, the flowers aren´t completed but only remain in the form of silhouette designs.

Hatshepsut being purified by Horus and Thoth.
Eastern Hatshepsut Chamber.


The Bark Shrine of Amun built by Philip Arrhidaeus with the barkstand still in place.
Behind is a glimpse of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III, the so called Akhmenu.


View towards the south-west by the Lotus column - a lone papyrus column behind a doorway.

Behind the Bark shrine is an open area with no buildings, only a few stone slabs in the center. This is the place for the sanctuary, where the image of the god resided. The place was robbed of stone in antiquity and the only thing remaining are the slabs on which the naos once stood. As always, it is kind of sad, when there is not a trace of the once so elaborated arrangements.

View over the site of the Shrine of Amun looking towards the Bark shrine and the obelisks.