ANCIENT
EGYPT
The History, People and Culture of the Nile Valley
The History, People and Culture of the Nile Valley |
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The
'Red Chapel' of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III rises again at Karnak.
Visitors
to the great temple of Karnak do not always realise that to the left of the
first courtyard when entering the temple, is an area known as the 'open air
museum' writes Bob Partridge. A separate ticket is needed for this
museum, but it is well worth it, for it is there you will find some of the
oldest buildings in the huge temple complex. 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.
Back to Ancient Egypt Magazine - Volume Two Issue Six contents
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