Trip to Egypt, April 2005Karnak, Sacred Lake and Temple of Ptah. View from the Festival Hall, towards the obelisks and the Hypostyle Hall behind. Reconstruction work seem to be going on all the time.  The Sacred Lake. Note the stairs used by priests to descend into the lake for purification rituals. At the far end you can glimpse the seats used for the Sound & Light Shows. Northeast of the Hypostyle Hall lies the Temple of Ptah.  Itīs a small building but the little courtyard holds lovely reliefs. There are also three shrines each, for the Triad of Memphis; Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertem. The latter oneīs shrine is long since empty. In the middle one is a statue of Ptah, sadly headless. In the right one Sekhmet still reigns in semidarkness and powerfull solitude: 
 Leaving the Temple of Ptah, this view of the outside wall of the Hypostyle Hall meets you. |