Karnak Temple

Karnak is the greatest temple complex of ancient Egypt, a vast sacred city on the Nile at Luxor, ancient Thebes, built and enlarged by pharaoh after pharaoh over nearly two thousand years. Its scale astonishes, above all the Great Hypostyle Hall, a forest of 134 colossal columns soaring overhead, alongside towering pylons, obelisks and an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, part of the UNESCO monuments of ancient Thebes.

History

Building at Karnak began under Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and went on into the Ptolemaic period, though most of what stands dates from the New Kingdom, when Thebes was the capital of a unified Egypt and almost every pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty added something. Thutmose I built the enclosure wall between the Fourth and Fifth Pylons, the oldest part still in place; Hatshepsut raised twin obelisks, then the tallest in the world, of which one still stands, and the Great Hypostyle Hall, perhaps begun in the Eighteenth Dynasty, was largely built under Seti I and Ramesses II. The last major change to the precinct of Amun-Re was the First Pylon and the great enclosure walls of Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty, and in 1979 Karnak was added to the World Heritage List with the rest of Thebes (Wikipedia, Karnak).

What you'll find

• The Great Hypostyle Hall - the forest of 134 colossal columns.
• The pylons and obelisks - the towering gateways and standing obelisks.
• The avenue of sphinxes - the ram-headed sphinxes lining the approach.
• The sacred lake - the great lake within the temple precinct.

When to go

October to April for cooler weather, as Luxor is fiercely hot much of the year; go early to beat the heat and cruise groups. The evening sound-and-light show is a dramatic way to see the columns lit.

Before you go

Luxor is very hot outside winter, and the site is large and shadeless, so go early with water and a hat. It is busy with Nile-cruise groups. The scale rewards a guide or audio guide to make sense of the layers of history built by successive pharaohs.

Nearby

Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the west-bank tombs are close; Karnak anchors many Nile cruises.

Key facts