Egypt - Karnak Temple

The Karnak Temple comprises a vast mix of ruined temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, also known as the great Temple of Amun; Construction begun by Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1391–1351 BC) and was added to by virtually every Pharaoh for the next thirteen centuries. It is located near Luxor, about 300 miles south of Cairo. The Karnak complex takes its name from the nearby village of el-Karnak just north of Luxor.

For the largely uneducated ancient Egyptian population this Temple could only have been the place of the gods. It is the mother of all religious buildings, the largest ever made and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4,000 years. Although todays pilgrims are mainly tourists. It covers about 200 acres.

Entrance to Karnak

The huge, intricate, carved pillars of the great Hypostyle Hall.

The granite obelisks erected by Hatshepsut at Karnak in the mid fifteen century B.C. to the great god Amun were among the most magnificent ever constructed. She commissioned hundreds of statues of herself and left accounts in stone of her lineage, her titles, her history. On one of her obelisks at Karnak she inscribed: "Now my heart turns this way and that, as I think what the people will say. Those who see my monuments in years to come, and who shall speak of what I have done."

Just one of many statues located at Karnak