The Precinct of Amun-Re is located within the massive Karnak Temple Complex near Luxor, Egypt. It is dedicated to the principal god Amun and covers an area of around 250,000 square meters, containing many structures from different eras. The main temple structures are laid out along an east-west axis and include pylons, courtyards, obelisks, and halls from the New Kingdom period when the site was expanded. The complex is still undergoing excavation and restoration work today.

1. Precinct of Amun-Re
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Map of the Amun-Re Temple
First pylon of Karnak
The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main temple enclosures
that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these
and the only one that is open to the general public. The temple complex is dedicated to the
principal god of the Theban Triad, Amun, in the form of Amun-Re.
The site occupies roughly 250 000 m², containing many structures and monuments. Some parts
of the complex are closed or semi-closed, partially large parts of the North/South Axis (VIII, IX,
and X Pylon), as they are under active excavation or restoration. The whole southeast corner is
semi-closed. The northwest corner is a museum that requires an additional ticket to visit.

2. Most of the southwest is an open-air-assembling area with millions of stone fragments, from
small to huge, laid out in long rows, awaiting reassembly into their respective monuments. The
area is not closed, as the temples of Khons and Opet both lie in this corner and are open to the
public, though both are rarely visited considering the immense number of tourists coming to
Karnak. Also in this area can be found the housing of the Akhenaten Temple Project, a sealed-up
long building, which contains all the remains found of the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV
(Akhenaten).
Contents
[hide]
 1 History
 2 East/West axis
o 2.1 Cult Terrace
o 2.2 Corridor of Sphinxes
o 2.3 First Pylon
o 2.4 Forecourt
 2.4.1 Boat Shrines
 2.4.2 Kiosk of Taharqa
o 2.5 Temple of Ramesses III
o 2.6 Bubastis Portal
o 2.7 Second Pylon
o 2.8 Great Hypostyle Hall
o 2.9 Third Pylon
o 2.10 Thutmose III & Hatshepsut's obelisks
o 2.11 Fourth and Fifth Pylons
o 2.12 Sixth Pylon
o 2.13 Sanctuary of Philip Arrhidaeus
o 2.14 Middle Kingdom court
o 2.15 Festival Hall of Thutmose III
 3 North/South Axis
o 3.1 First Court (Cachette Court)
o 3.2 Seventh Pylon
o 3.3 Second Court
o 3.4 Eighth Pylon
o 3.5 Third Court
o 3.6 Ninth Pylon
o 3.7 Fourth Court
o 3.8 Tenth Pylon
 4 Other Structures
o 4.1 Sacred Lake
o 4.2 Temple of Ptah
o 4.3 Temple of Ramesses II
o 4.4 Temple of Khons
o 4.5 Temple of Opet

3. o 4.6 Chapel of Osiris / Heqadjet
 5 Open Air Museum
 6 Notes
 7 References
 8 External links
 9 Further reading
[edit] History
Main article: History of the Karnak Temple complex
The history of the Karnak complex is largely the history of Thebes. The city does not appear to
have been of any significance before the Eleventh Dynasty, and any temple building here would
have been relatively small and unimportant, with any shrines being dedicated to the early god of
Thebes, Montu.[1] The earliest artifact found in the area of the temple is a small, eight-sided
column from the Eleventh Dynasty, which mentions Amun-Re.[1] The tomb of Intef II mentions a
'house of Amun', which implies some structure, whether a shrine or a small temple is unknown.[1]
The ancient name for Karnak, Ipet-Sut (usually translated as 'most select of places') only really
refers to the central core structures of the Precinct of Amun-Re, and was in use as early as the
11th Dynasty, again implying the presence of some form of temple before the Middle Kingdom
expansion.[2]
[edit] East/West axis
First pylon
Bark shrines of Seti II

4. One of the corridors of sphynxes
Temple of Ramses III, main entrance
Second pylon photographed from the west side
The main temple is laid out on an East/West axis, entered via a quay (now dry and several
hundred metres from the Nile).
[edit] Cult Terrace
The modern entrance is placed over the end of the ancient cult terrace (or tribune), causing most
visitors to miss this significant feature. Inscribed into the terrace (though many are now eroded
away) are the inundation levels for several kings of the Third Intermediate Period, collectively
known as the Nile Level Texts. The cult terrace is often mistakenly thought to be a dock or quay,
but other examples, such as the one at the Hathor temple at Deir al-Madinah, do not have access
to water. It was intended for the presentation of cult images.
[edit] Corridor of Sphinxes
Originally the quay led via a corridor of Sphinxes to the entrance to the second pylon, but these
were moved aside when the First Pylon was constructed.
[edit] First Pylon
Construction of the current pylon began in 30th dynasty, but was never totally completed. It is
113 m wide and 15 m thick. There are large numbers of mud bricks piled up against the inside of
the pylon, and these give a clue as to how it was constructed.

5. [edit] Forecourt
The construction of the original first pylon and Forecourt in the 22nd dynasty enclosed several
older structures, and meant that the original avenue of sphinxes had to be moved.
[edit] Boat Shrines
These were built in the time of Seti II, and are dedicated to Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.
[edit] Kiosk of Taharqa
In order to construct this kiosk, the ram-sphinx corridor was removed and the statues moved to
the edges of the open court. Only one column remains in place, bearing inscriptions by Taharqa,
Psamtik II and Ptolemy IV Philopator.
[edit] Temple of Ramesses III
On the south side of the forecourt, there is a small temple built by Ramesses III. Inscriptions
inside the temple show the king slaughtering captives, whilst Amun-Re looks on.
[edit] Bubastis Portal
Main article: Bubastis Portal
This portal allows exit from the first court to the area to the south of the Temple of Ramesses III.
It records the conquests and military campaigns in Syria-Palestine of Shoshenq I, of the Twenty-
second Dynasty.
[edit] Second Pylon
This pylon[3] was built by Horemheb near the end of his reign and only partly decorated by him.
Ramesses I usurped Horemheb's reliefs and inscriptions on the pylon and added his own to them.
These were later usurped by Ramesses II. The east (rear) face of the pylon became the west wall
of the newly built Great Hypostyle Hall under Seti I who added some honorary images of the late
Ramesses I to compensate for having had to erase his father's images there when he built the
hall.
Horemheb filled the interior of the pylon towers with thousands of recycled blocks from
dismantled monuments of his predecessors, especially Talatat blocks from the monuments of
Akhenaten along with a temple of Tutankhamen and Ay.
The Second Pylon's roof collapsed in late antiquity and was later restored in Ptolemaic times.
[edit] Great Hypostyle Hall
Main article: Great Hypostyle Hall, Karnak

6. Column in the Great Hypostyle Hall
This was begun by Seti I, and completed by Ramesses II. The north side of the hall is decorated
in raised relief, and was Seti I's work. He began to decorate the southern side of the hall shortly
before he died but this section was largely completed by his son, Ramesses II. Ramesses
decoration was at first in raised relief, but he quickly changed to sunk relief and then converted
his raised relief decoration in the southern part of the hall, along with the few reliefs of Seti
there, to sunk relief. He left Seti I's reliefs in the north wing as raised relief. Ramesses also
changed Seti's names to his own along the main east-west axis of the Hall and along the northern
part of the north-south processional route while respecting most of his father's reliefs elsewhere
in the hall.
The outer walls depict scenes of battle, Seti I on the north and Ramesses II on the south. These
scenes may not show actual combat, but could have a ritual purpose as well. Adjoining the
southern wall of Ramesses II is another wall that contains the text of the peace treaty he signed
with the Hittites in the year 21 of his reign.
[edit] Third Pylon
Through the walls of the Hypostyle Hall is the mostly ruined Transverse Hall, alongside a
reconstructed Third Pylon of Amenhotep III.[4] Though much ruined, in antiquity it was quite
splendid and parts of it were even plated in gold by pharaoh Amenhotep III. A vestibule was
added late in the pharaoh's reign and then partly decorated with incompleted triumph scenes by
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten before the new pharaoh abandoned the project due to his religious
revolution which rejected the cult of the god Amun-Re.
In building the Third Pylon, Amenhotep dismantled a number of older monuments,[5] including a
small gateway he himself built earlier in the reign. He deposited hundreds of blocks from these
monuments inside the pylon towers as fill. These were recovered by Egyptologists in the early
20th Century and led to the reconstruction of several lost monuments including the White Chapel
of Senwseret I and the red chapel of Queen Hatshepsut which are now in the open air museum at
Karnak.
The reliefs on the pylon were later restored by Tutankhamen who also inserted images of
himself. These were, in turn, later erased by Horemheb. The erased images of Tutankhamen were

7. long thought to be of Akhenaten himself, supposedly evidence of a coregency between
Akhenaten and Amenhotep III, though most scholars now reject this.[6]
[edit] Thutmose III & Hatshepsut's obelisks
The obelisk of Thutmose I between the 3rd and 4th Pylon, 18th dynasty
In a narrow court, there are several obelisks, one which dates from Thutmose I, and is 21.2 m
high and weighs nearly 150 tons. Just beyond this is the remaining obelisk of Hatshepsut, nearly
30 m in height. Later kings blocked out the view of this from ground level, and constructed walls
around it. Its companion lies, broken, by the sacred lake.
[edit] Fourth and Fifth Pylons
These were built by Thutmose I.
[edit] Sixth Pylon
The Sixth Pylon was built by Thutmose III, and leads into a Hall of Records in which the king
recorded his tributes. The pylon also includes some images of the god Amun which were
restored by Tutankhamen after they were vandalized by Akhenaten. These images were later
recarved by Horemheb who also usurped Tutankhamun's restoration inscriptions.[6]
[edit] Sanctuary of Philip Arrhidaeus
The sanctuary was built in the time of Philip Arrhidaeus, on the site of the earlier sanctuary built
by Thutmose III. This sanctuary contains blocks from the earlier sanctuary and older inscriptions
can still be seen.

8. [edit] Middle Kingdom court
Only the base of three doors mark the entrances to the internal structures of this court.[7]
[edit] Festival Hall of Thutmose III
Main article: Festival Hall of Thutmose III
This stands to the east of the main temple complex. Between the sanctuary and the festival hall is
an open space, and this is thought to be where the original Middle Kingdom shrines and temples
were located, before their later dismantling.
The Festival Hall (or Akh-menu – "the most glorious of monuments") itself has its axis at right-
angles to the main east-west axis of the temple. It was originally built to celebrate the jubilee
(Hed-Sed) of Thutmose III, and later became used as part of the annual Opet Festival. In this
temple, the Karnak king list, shows Thutmose III with some of the earlier kings that built parts of
the temple complex. It contains the Botanical garden of Thutmosis III.
[edit] North/South Axis
Thutmose III smiting his asiatic enemies
The Ninth Pylon

9. The Sacred Lake of Precinct of Amun-Re
This axis, with its massive pylons, heads off to the Precinct of Mut. Most of this area is off limits
to tourists, as it is under active reconstruction and excavation.
[edit] First Court (Cachette Court)
Over 750 statues and 17,001 other artifacts were discovered in the early Nineteenth century
buried under this open court. These had been buried there, probably in the Ptolemaic period,
during one of the clearances of the complex for rebuilding or construction. Excavations took
place during a period of high waters, and were abandoned before the cache of artifacts were
exhausted.[8]
[edit] Seventh Pylon
On the southern side, there is a carving of Thutmose III smiting Asiatic enemies, under which is
a list of names of towns and peoples conquered in his campaigns in Syria-Palestine.
[edit] Second Court
Off to the eastern side of the court is an alabaster shrine, constructed for the jubilee of Thutmose
III.
[edit] Eighth Pylon
Constructed by Hatshepsut, the seventh pylon marks the end of the area that is normally
accessible to the public.
[edit] Third Court
[edit] Ninth Pylon
This pylon was constructed (or at least completed) by Horemheb. It is hollow and allows access
to its top, via internal staircases.
[edit] Fourth Court

10. [edit] Tenth Pylon
Again, it was Horemheb who built this last pylon, using the Talatat from the dismantled Temple
of Amenhotep IV as core building material. There are four registers of scenes around the
gateway, in the name of Horemheb.
[edit] Other Structures
Located within the outer precincts of the complex are a number of other structures, some of
which are accessible to the public.
[edit] Sacred Lake
The sacred lake was where priests purified themselves before performing rituals in the temple.
The sound and light show is now viewed from a seating area next to the lake.
[edit] Temple of Ptah
Main article: Temple of Ptah at Karnak
This small temple lies to the north of the main Amun temple, just within the boundary wall. The
building was erected by Thutmose III, on the site of an earlier Middle Kingdom temple. The
building was later enlarged by the Ptolemies.
[edit] Temple of Ramesses II
Also known as the Temple of the Hearing Ear this temple is located to the east of the main
complex, on the east-west alignment. It was built during the reign of Ramesses II.
[edit] Temple of Khons
Main article: Temple of Khons at Karnak
This temple is an example of an almost complete New Kingdom temple, and was originally
constructed by Ramesses III, on the site of an earlier temple (the construction seems to be
mentioned in the Harris Papyrus).
[edit] Temple of Opet
[edit] Chapel of Osiris / Heqadjet
[edit] Open Air Museum
Main article: Karnak Open Air Museum

11. Several of the pylons reused earlier structures in their core. In the Open Air Museum, located in
the Northwest corner of the complex, there are reconstructions of some of these earlier
structures, notable amongst them the Chapelle Rouge of Hatshepsut, and the White Chapel of
Senusret I.