Karnak is a temple complex rather than a temple: a walled field about 2.5 kilometres north of Luxor on the east bank, containing three precincts, a dozen pylons built in sequence over centuries, chapels re-erected on the grass from the blocks of buildings that were pulled down, and one hall of columns that is the largest ever built in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians called the place Ipet-isut, the most selected of places, and it was the home of Amun, the head of the Theban triad, and the religious centre of the New Kingdom.
Construction ran from the reign of Senusret I, in the Middle Kingdom, into the Ptolemaic period: roughly two thousand years of building, demolishing, re-carving and adding. Almost every king of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties did something here, and many of them made sure their names went on their predecessors’ work.
- Columns in the hypostyle hall
- 134
- Area of the hall
- 5,000 m²
- Height of the twelve tallest
- 21 m
- Estimated weight of an architrave
- 70 tons
The hypostyle hall
The Great Hypostyle Hall is what most people come for, and it justifies the trip on its own. It covers 5,000 square metres with 134 columns arranged in sixteen rows: 122 of them ten metres tall, and twelve rising to around twenty-one metres with diameters over three metres, carrying architraves estimated at seventy tons each. The effect of walking in is not of a room but of a stone forest, and the light coming through the clerestory openings above the side rows is what makes it work.
It was begun under Seti I and completed by Ramesses II, whose reliefs cover the walls, and the carvings were originally painted: traces of colour survive in the sheltered corners. In a back corner of the site stands an unfinished column, with the drum left rough, which is the clearest explanation anywhere of how these things were dressed and decorated after they were stacked rather than before.
The obelisks, the lake and the open air museum
Hatshepsut raised a pair of granite obelisks at Karnak, and one of them still stands, around 29 metres of it, because later kings chose to wall it in rather than cut it down; its companion lies on its side nearby. Beyond, the sacred lake is a rectangle of water with stone steps, used by the priests for purification, and beside it the scarab beetle on its pedestal that appears in every visitor photograph.
The open air museum at the rear of the precinct is the part people skip and should not. The White Chapel of Senusret I and the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut have been rebuilt there from their own blocks, and because they were found as fill inside later monuments, their decoration survived. This is where the Middle Kingdom part of Karnak’s story actually lives.
Two of the three precincts, those of Mut and Montu, are usually closed, and a good deal of the site is still being excavated and restored, so the map changes from year to year.
Two thousand years of building
Middle Kingdom
It starts modestly
Construction began in the reign of Senusret I, between about 1971 and 1926 BC, on ground that had already been sacred. What survives from that phase is mostly in the open air museum, where the White Chapel has been rebuilt from its own blocks.
New Kingdom
The kings compete
From the 18th Dynasty onwards each reign added pylons, courts, chapels and obelisks, and later kings re-carved the names on their predecessors’ work. Hatshepsut raised a pair of granite obelisks here, one of which still stands in the middle of the precinct, walled in by later building rather than dismantled.
19th Dynasty
The hypostyle hall
Seti I began the Great Hypostyle Hall and Ramesses II finished it: 134 columns in sixteen rows, the central twelve around twenty-one metres tall, carrying architraves estimated at seventy tons. The unfinished column in a corner of the site shows how the drums were dressed after they were stacked.
Amarna and after
A temple taken down
Amenhotep IV, later Akhenaten, built a temple to the Aten at Karnak and it was deliberately dismantled after his death; its blocks were reused as fill inside later pylons, which is how so much of it survives to be reconstructed. Building at Karnak continued in the Ptolemaic period, long after the New Kingdom was over.
1979 and 2021
World Heritage, and the avenue
Thebes and its necropolis, Karnak included, were inscribed by UNESCO in 1979. In 2021 the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes that once connected Karnak with Luxor Temple was reopened after years of restoration, restoring the two-kilometre walk between them for the first time in centuries.
Walking it in the right order
Enter from the west through the first pylon, into the great court with its colonnades and the temple of Ramesses III on the left, then into the hypostyle hall. From there, east: the obelisks, the sanctuary and the halls around it, which are the oldest and most sacred part of the complex. Then back around the northern side to the sacred lake, and finish in the open air museum.
If you have one day in Luxor and a taste for Egyptian religion rather than tombs, do Karnak in the morning and Luxor Temple in the late afternoon, walking or driving the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes that connects them. Karnak was the dwelling of the god; Luxor Temple was where he went once a year during the Opet festival, and the two together are one story rather than two monuments.
How will you walk it?
Have you read anything about the site beforehand?
Do you also want Luxor Temple the same day?
Take a guide, or take the audio
Karnak is a palimpsest: a building altered in every reign for two thousand years, and almost nothing on site explains that. A licensed guide for two hours, or the audio tour, is the difference between a walk through impressive ruins and an understanding of why the hall is built the way it is.
Karnak in the morning, Luxor Temple at dusk
Start at Karnak at opening and use the avenue of sphinxes or a taxi to reach Luxor Temple later. The two are one composition: Karnak was the dwelling of Amun and Luxor Temple was where the god visited during the Opet festival, and seeing both in a day joins the story up.
Karnak on its own, unhurried
Give the precinct three hours and do it in order: the first pylon, the forecourt, the hypostyle hall, the obelisks, the sanctuary, then the sacred lake and the open air museum at the back where the rebuilt chapels stand. Finish with the scarab and the lake, which is the calmest place on the site.
Practicalities
Karnak is the busiest site on the east bank and the one where timing matters most, because there is almost no shade: gates open early, the coach groups arrive from about ten, and by noon the stone is giving the heat back. Two to three hours covers the precinct of Amun-Re properly; half a day covers it and the museum.
The sound and light show runs most evenings and divides opinion, but it is the only way to be inside Karnak at night with the crowds gone, which is worth something. And take a guide or the audio tour: this is a site where the buildings are the least interesting part of the story, because the story is about who rebuilt whose work and why.
Before the precinct
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Karnak is the opposite of the Valley of the Kings. There, everything is hidden and small and underground. Here it is all on the surface, scaled to impress, and built to be seen from a distance. Go at opening, walk it in order, and save the lake for last.
