temple of Karnak

In a corner of the temple enclosure lie the blocks of buildings dismantled by various pharaohs to make room for their additions to the main temple. The blocks were used as foundations and infill for later buildings and have been recovered during reconstruction and conservation work at the site.

It has even been possible to recon­struct several of the buildings, including the oldest structure of all at Karnak the White Chapel of Senuseret 1 of the Middle Kingdom.

Amongst the number of blocks recov­ered from a number of dismantled buildings, were a large number dating to the reigns of Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.

The red quartzite and black granite blocks come from a barque shrine, the build­ing of which started around four years before Hatshepsufs death in 1483 B.C. Her nephew and successor, Thutmose III, continued with the building of the shrine, but it was never fin­ished and it was ultimately dismantled to make way for larger building on the site.

It would appear that the blocks were carefully stored. within the temple for future use. Some seem to have been reused fairly quickly, but it was Amenhotep Ill, who used all the remaining blocks as filling for his Pylon (now known as the Third Pylon, which was a splendid new river‑facing entrance to the temple).

There the blocks remained hidden from view and perfectly preserved, until exca­vation and conservation work on the pylon between 1898 and 1995. Several hundred blocks were recovered. Black granite blocks clearly came from doorways and the base courses of the shrine, whilst red quartzite was used for the walls. The latter explain why the shrine is known as the 'Red Chapel' of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. The natural colour of the quartzite varies and the ancient craftsmen painted all the blocks to a uniform red colour.

For many years the blocks were dis­played on low stone benches, and visitors could wander along the lines of blocks and see the exquisite reliefs, carved on both sides, at close quarters. However, in 1997 the decision was taken to reconstruct the shrine, and the work has taken several years and is now almost complete.

The blocks were studied to work out their original order. This was not an easy process, for, unusually most of blocks contain a complete scene, which do not overlap on to adjacent blocks, making the identification of blocks which matched up difficult. It was also realised that a substantial number of blocks (well over half) were missing, so the building has been rebuilt using some new blocks of stone cut from the same red quartzite and black granite. Other areas have been filled with brick, which has been plastered, and the plaster carefully painted to match the stone colour.

The reconstructed shrine is surpris­ingly large (over seventeen metres in length) and visually impressive with the black granite and red stone of the walls. It is divided into two rooms, the larger of the two provided with a low plinth in the floor, on which the barque of the God Amun would have rested. The rebuilt shrine now dominates the open-air museum.

The work has been undertaken by the Franco‑Egyptian Centre, directed by François Larché and with the support of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. The French and Egyptian workers and craftsmen have done a painstaking and expert job in the recon­struction.

Whilst a substantial building now stands again in the temple, the main drawback with the reconstruction, is that many of the blocks are now high up in the walls and because of their orientation they are not as well lit as before. Consequently it is, sadly, very difficult to actually see the all the carved scenes as clearly as when they were laid in neat rows on the stone benches. If you have a pair of binoculars, take them with you, it will be worth it.