Wonderful Chapels in the Open Air Museum at Karack Temple

The pylons of Karnack Temple hold many secrets, but I believe the gods wanted to share with us the secret of the beautiful workmanship that had been created for them when in 1924 the third pylon was damaged by an earthquake. To repair the damage it was necessary to dismantle the pylon, during the works, blocks were discovered that have since been meticulously pieced together and gradually over the and years beautiful shrines and chapels have risen again that had been buried within the third pylon during the reign of Amenophis 111, they have been carefully reconstructed in the grounds of The Open Air Museum in the precincts of Karnack Temple, and they are amazing.

In the heat of an afternoon I stood in the first courtyard of Karnack temple underneath the imposing statue of Ramses the Great with his daughter wife Bintanath at his feet, after her mother Nefertari died, Bintanath became the kings consort for ceremonial events.

I took the path down the side of the colossi and walked towards a row of criosphinx that sat on the edge of the courtyard, passing between a row of columns I then entered through the gateway in the side wall of the courtyard, and it was as if I had walked through a portal of time and warped into another dimension, I walked completely alone up a winding path and reflected that in the courtyard behind me hundreds of people were oblivious to this quiet secret garden of delight that I alone had discovered and entered into. As I walked up the path rows of blocks were all laid out, they were jigsaw pieces of stone with their messages from the past patiently waiting to be pieced together again. As I walked around the bend my eyes were drawn to the pale cream elegant chapel in the shade of the trees that dark green leaves overhung in this quiet corner of Karnack. To my delight I had found the exquisite White Chapel originally created during the Middle Kingdom for Sensuret1 of the 12th Dynasty to celebrate his Sed- festival. This elegant little chapel in Tura limestone is thought to be one of the earliest structures created in Karnack and we are so blessed that our eyes can admire it once again. It was re- constructed by Henri Chevrier.
Two ramps lead up into a small rectangular chapel from its base facing each other. Twelve external square pillars and four internal pillars support the ceiling; these have the finest cut delicate inscriptions and show Sensuret embracing the gods Amen Ptah Atum and Horus each god is placed at one of the four cardinal points of the earth. The beams of sunlight flood through the square pillars and highlight the intricate relief’s they touch
An inscription on the North corner pillar of the chapel reads:
‘Come in peace, O Sensuret, that thou may see thy father Amun Ra who loves thee, that he may give thee kingship of the two lands’
Sensuret came to the throne as co-regent with his father Amenemhet 1 during the 20th year of his fathers reign. During these early years Sensuret went on many campaigns to Syria and Nubia, unfortunately whilst he was on campaign in Libya he received news that his father had been assassinated. Sensuret then became the sole king of Egypt. He ruled for 34 years, and three years before he died he elevated his own son Amenemhet 11 as his co-regent, and finally he was buried in the pyramid he had built a mile from his fathers at El Lisht.

At the side of Sensuret’s chapel stand two small simple alabaster barque shrines, one for Tuthmosis 1V and the further one was built for Amenophis 1 whose beautiful Throne name was Holy is the Soul of Re. These two rectangular barque shrines are simple in design when you compare them to the feeling of majesty as you look back at the chapel of Sensuret, but as no-one was in the grounds I decided to lay on the floor within the shrine of Amenophis and admire the beauty of the ceiling and walls that are made entirely of alabaster with the grain and colours swirled around me, the large carving on the wall glowed as the sunlight touched the face of Amenophis, I stood up wanting to touch the weave of his hair, but I resisted the temptation.
Eventually I left the alabaster shrine that in its own simple elegance had given me a sense of calm and showed me the beauty of alabaster. I then followed the path towards the exciting Red Chapel of Hatshepsut and my expectations increased because here was a queen who was obviously determined to out due the works of all previous kings and create the most beautiful and unusual gifts for Amun. I was not disappointed as I arrived at Hatshepsut’s creation walking around the base there is a grey diorite frieze that is divided into squares each one representing a Nome of ancient Egypt
The nomes were divided into capital towns, cultivated lands, marshes and canals, the frieze shows male and female engravings bringing gifts of all things pure for Amon, the male is the god Hapi with his flabby tummy, some of the engravings still show signs of gold paint in their hollows. I take the steps and enter through the open doorway that is also framed with grey diorite; I was now stood in the vestibule of the Set-ib-Imen (place of the heart of Amon). Hatshepsut began the creation of the Red Chapel during the later years of her reign to replace the alabaster chapel of Amenophis 1 and as original as ever she chose to make it from Red Quartzite blocks
Which was an unusual choice of material to use as it has a deep red ochre colour; the rectangular shape has three doorways, two rooms, and an open roof. The first room is a small vestibule and the larger second room was the sanctuary to shelter the boat of Amon on a small altar of rest. The floor is paved and has a gully that the waters of purification would flow through during the ritual ceremonies. Inside the sanctuary there is a frieze crossing the wall with the Djed pillar (stability) Was-sceptre (strength) and the Ankh (life). The vestibule has a frieze of the Rekhyt bird which refers to the adoration of all the people The blocks that were retrieved from inside the third pylon and have been incorporated into the walls of the shrine refer to the major events of that took place during Hatshepsut’s reign, her enthronement, the annual Feast of Opet, during which a grand procession left Karnack temple to arrive at Luxor Temple, this took place in the second month of the flood season and was held to celebrate the renewal of kingship and the Divine marriage of Amon to Mut. The blocks also show The Beautiful Feast of the Valley this was held during the harvest period between March and June when the sacred barques of Amun Mut and Khonsu were taken across the River Nile to the West Bank to visit the mortuary temples of the pharaohs to offer floral tributes.
Walking away from the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut I reflected on the beauty of all the individual barque chapels, the elegance of the White Chapel the cool calm of the alabaster chapels and the larger imposing chapel of Hatshepsut with its burning warm red bricks and then it occurred to me the symbolism of why Hatshepsut had possibly deviated from traditional materials and chosen instead to use this unusual red quartzite, it was simple, a heart of a man is deep warm red it pumps the warm blood through the body and sustains the life, and this chapel was ‘The Heart of Amun.’

follow this link to see wonderful photos of the white chapel:
flickr.com/photos/82575904@N00/470399322

Ramses 111 and Prince Khaemwaset in his tomb in the Valley of the Queens

Khaemwaset was probably the oldest of Ramses 111 sons that he buried in the Valley of the Queens, here he created a beautiful tomb for Khaemwaset who had died young. Among his royal titles Khaemwaset held the position of Fan bearer to the right of the King, 'Sem priest' Priest of Ptah at Memphis, In the tomb, Ramses guides his son prince khaemwaset through the afterlife introducing him to the Gods, in this photgraph the fan he carries in this scene in the tomb is a short-handled khu fan with a single ostrich feather, symbolically it means "protect," and royal guards may have carried it for this reason. Isis Nephthys or Horus are seen to wave the fan over the corpse of Osiris in many of the tombs, by doing this they were offering him 'the breath of life' in order to revive him.

Symbolism of Ramses 111 slaying prisoners at Medinet Habu

Ramses 111 is shown sybolically about to slay his prisoners in this relief at Medinet Habu. The Egyptian king is always shown taller than lesser mortals, especially enemies, as this intuitively expresses to us his hierarchical stature as a king, and the helplessness of his enemies. It confirms in the egyptian mind their kings power and strength to destroy the enemies of egypt who are helpless beneath his grasp, it expresses his power and protection of Egypt and his ability to protect them from the forces of chaos

Ramses 111 & his Lion attacks a prisoner at Medinet Habu

Ramses 111 is about to strike his enemy, whilst his Lion pounces and bites the unfortunate prisoners arm. This is a really unusual image, and not really noticed by people as they pass it as you walk through one of the tunnel gateways inside medinet habu on the side interior entrance wall.

I believe this image is to symbolically show that Ramses is as fierce as a lion and will attack any enemy and strike them down as swift as a lion and as ferocious as a lion, the sentiment, don't bite the arm that feeds you springs to mind also!

Obelisk of Ramses 11 at Luxor Temple

The obelisk of Luxor temple with it’s perfect sharp edged sides reach for the sun, pays homage to the Sun god Ra,whose rays flash down it to highlight the bold vertical lines of deep inscriptions that inspire the traveler to utter the names of Ramses making him immortal once more, once his name is spoken his authority of this ancient land is invoked and assured again, The Horus, Mighty Bull, Exalter of Thebes, Favorite of the Two Goddess, establishing monuments for his father Amun who placed him on the Throne, Golden Horus seeking excellent things for him who fashioned him King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usamatre, Chosen of Re. In 1835 the Pasha of Egypt Mohammed Ali gave its twin obelisk to France in recognition of Champillion having deciphered the Rosetta stone, which allowed the world to finally understand the words of the ancient Egyptians that had remained silent for thousands of years . The twin obelisk now stands in The Palace de la Concorde at Paris. And the Ancient Egyptian spell of protection that the two combined Obelisks offered the parimeters of the temple have been severed.

Harim Plot to murder Ramses 111 at Medinet Habu

During the rule of Ramses 111 there was a plot to murder him which involved his harim, like all Egyptian kings had his own Harim of wives that lived at Medinet Habu. As I walked between the defensive walls of the Migdol wrapping around each side of me, my eyes were drawn to the high windows of the Kings harem, its deep fortified walls rose high above me travelling before me to cross the top of the shaded portal gateway, I imagined the king standing in the window above me, looking down from the windows of his harem, symbolically defiant as his foot rested on the head of one of the prisoners protruding from the base of the windows.

Towards the end of Ramses 111 rule, a Lower wife Tiy was found to be the main culprit in a death plot against Ramses; she had hoped to see her son Pertwere succeed to the throne. A priest who practiced the arts of magic created wax figurines potions and wrote magical spells, In ancient Egypt words were magical, and had the power to evoke the of power life and death. The spells cast against Ramses and the black magic did not kill him unfortunately for the conspirators of this devious plot, their intentions were considered as deadly and as serious as an actual physical assault on Ramses, the magic invoked was as terrible a threat as trying to cut him down with a sword. Thirty conspirators of the harem were put on trial at the kebnet (the court) which was also in Medinet Habu, they were sentenced to death and told to commit suicide in front of the court or in their cells, after their trial, ten judges also faced trial for having taken meals with the accused during the trials, they were condemned to have their ears and nose cut off.