the karnak temple

The temple compound of Amun at Karnak is one of the largest religious structures in the world. It represented not only the seat of the great god Amun-Re but also contained or adjoined many chapels and temples dedicated to different deities, like Amun-Re’s consort Mut, Khonsu, Opet, Isis and Osiris. The compound was constructed from around 1550 BCE throughout the Greco-Roman period.

Its hypostyle hall (an unroofed area made of multiple colossal pillars) and the giant, hieroglyphic-encrusted papyrus columns leading up to the entrance are outstanding, especially as they were built at a time when people in most of the other places of the world didn’t even know how to make little houses.

A model of the Karnak Temple with seven pylons, a roofless hypostyle hall, the water tank and some additional temples.