The vast temple complex of Amun at Karnak, was in the ancient days connected to the Nile by a channel emanating in a square basin, which served as a landing spot for the sacred barques on which the statues of deities were transported out on the river on their festival days. This basin was attached to an avenue of Sphinxes, which led to the First Pylons, built by Nectanebo I. All in all there are ten pylons, five of them in a straight line from the first one, and five of them at a 90 degree axis leading towards the Precinct of Mut. The oldest parts are to be found further along the main axis. here are a few of the main traits of the temple:

First Pylon
Going through the First Pylon you enter a courtyard where there is a triplpe bark shrine to the left, from the time of Seti I. It has niches for the bargues of Mut, Amun and Khonsu. To the center of the court are the remains of a kiosk of Taharqa, only one giant papyrus column and a large altar block remains but originally there were ten of these columns. To the right of this is a small temple to Ramesses III, complete with a small courtyard lined with Osiride statues of the king, a portico, a small hypostyle hall and dark niches for the bargues of the Karnak Triad. Opposite this, to the left of the courtyard is a portal which leads to an 'Open Air Museum' with among others displays the Barque shrine of Senwosret I and the red quartzite 'Chapelle Rouge', both reconstructed from blocks found within the temple precinct.

The Second Pylon
was begun in the time of Horemheb but not completed until Seti I came to power. In front of it is a tall statue of Ramesses II with a diminutive figure of, probably, the princess Bint-Anath reaching hardly up to his knees.

Hypostyle Hall
Through this portico we enter into the Great Hypostyle Hall which is one of the most impressive sites in Egypt and certainly the most reknown one in Karnak. It was begun by Amenhotep III, continued by Seti I and completed by Ramesses II. Wandering around these 134 huge columns is like walking in a veritable forest. Originally here were statues with gods and kings and a roof with small windows, some of which can be seen today. Original painting is still remaining on the underside of many of the lintels. The walls bear reliefs depicting daily rituals and processions and the king is seen offering to various deities.

The Third Pylon
was also begun by Amenhotep III. From here many of the building blocks were taken to the Open Air Museum. Passing through this pylon you come to the entrance of the original inner temple outside of where Thutmose I and III erected four obelisks. Only one of them is still standing. Here the second axis bends off southward towards the Precinct of Mut.

The Fourth and Fifth Pylons
were erected by Thutmose I. This is the inner and oldest part of the temple still remaining. Of two obelisks erected by Hatshepsut, one is still standing erect, the other one lies broken on the ground. Here were also fourteen papyrus columns which once were gilded.

The Sixth Pylon
built by Thutmose III, is mostly in ruins but leads to a court with two great granite pillars, each of them wearing respectively the emblem of Upper Egypt (a stylized lotus) and of Lower Egypt (a stylized papyrus). On the north side of this court are two statues of Amun and Amaunet, and a granite barque shrine, built by Philip Arrhidaeus on an earlier shrine from the time of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut. Past this point lies the place of earliest known temple to Amun, now totally destroyed, plundered for its stone already in antiquity. All that remains now is a large alabaster stone on which the shrine was placed.

The Festival Temple of Thutmose III
Passing a central court where nothing much is to be seen, we come to this fairly well preserved building, erected by Thutmose III as a small memorial for his own and his ancestral cult, called 'The Most splendid of Monuments'. Here are various rooms and magazines as well as a great hall with columns, those in the middle end in so called 'tent poles'. There are also suites of rooms for the worship of Sokar and of Re in his morning manifestation and of Amun. One of the rooms here is called the 'Botanical Garden' as the walls have depictions of animals, birds and exotic plants, probably discovered on the many campaigns of Thutmose III.

The rear walls of the Festival Temple are broken down. Passing through them you come to a couple of niche shrines set up by Ramesses II and a 'Chapel of the Hearing Ear' by Hatshepsut. Such were often erected for worshippers to come and bring petitions to the gods of the temples. Here were also two obelisks, now only the fundaments remain. By the rest of the mudbrick wall, a little to the north, may be seen what is left of a small temple from the time of Osorkon IV, dedicated to 'Osiris-Hekadjet' and other small shrines. Lastly, if you pass through the crumbled wall, you will come to the 'Gem-pa-aten', the temple Amenhotep IV built during his first five years in trying to establish his new religion, and shortly before he changed his name to Akhenaten. This concludes the main east-west axis of the temple of Karnak. Next we retrace our steps towards the south, the seventh to tenth pylons and the Sacred Lake.

The Sacred Lake
Walking back across the central courtyard, the sacred lake lies to the left. It was filled with ground water and served the priests when making their ablutions for temple service. By its eastern side there are seating for the sound and light show today but beneath it, priests´ living areas have been excavated. On the southern side of the lake, there is a stone tunnel emanating, through which the sacred geese of Amun was let out from fowl-yards which were situated further south. At the north-west corner of the lake is a chapel to Taharka with underground rooms with depictions of the sun-god´s night journey under the earth and his rebirth as a beetle next morning.

The Seventh to Tenth Pylons
We now turn along the north-south axis which will lead to the Precinct of Mut. Directly outside the Third Pylons is the first courtyard on this axis with the Seventh Pylon constructed by Thutmose III but the side walls are built by Merneptah. It was here that Gerard Legrain in 1903 found the so called Karnak Cachette, which over the next three years yielded over 900 statues and statuettes, mainly from the 20th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period. It was usual, when statues accumulated in temples, to simply hide them under ground on the premises so that they should remain within the sacred space. The Eight, Ninth and Tenth Pylons are undergoing restoration by a French-Egyptian team. The eight pylon was built by Hatshepsut and the ninth and tenth were built by Horemheb. To this he used large amounts of stone from the temples of Akhenaten.

In the southern wall of the courtyard between the ninth and tenth pylon, a small Heb-Sed (jubilee) temple to Amehotep II is built in. It is recently reconstructed, there is a central hall with fine reliefs which have kept much of their original color. The face of the god Amun was destroyed by Akhenaten but restored by Seti I. The tenth pylon opens to an avenue of sphinxes which make a processional route which lead to the Precinct of Mut.

Next article will feature the Precinct of Mut and other structures on the area of Karnak.

Sources: The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt - Richard H. Wilkinson
Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt - John Baines & Jaromir Malek
Temples - Royal Divinities and Divine Kings, article in Äegypten, Die Welt Der Pharaonen - Regine Schultz & Hourig Sourozian