Egyptian Architecture

Due to the scarcity of lumber, the two predominant building materials used in ancient Egypt were sun-baked mud brick and

stone, mainly limestone, but also sandstone and granite in considerable quantities. From the Old Kingdom onward, stone was

generally reserved for tombs and temples, while bricks were used even for royal palaces, fortresses, the walls of temple

precincts and towns, and for subsidiary buildings in temple complexes. Egypt houses were made out of mud collected from

the Nile river. It was placed in molds and left to dry in the hot sun to harden for use in construction.Many egyptian towns

have disappeared because they were situated near the cultivated area of the Nile Valley and were flooded as the river bed

slowly rose during the milennia, or the mud bricks of which they were built were used by peasants as fertilizer. Others are

inaccessible, new buildings having been erected on ancient ones. Fortunately, the dry, hot climate of Egypt preserved some

mud brick structures. Examples include the village Deir al-Madinah, the Middle Kingdom town at Kahun, and the fortresses at

Buhen and Mirgissa. Also, many temples and tombs have survived because they were built on high ground unaffected by the

Nile flood and were constructed of stone. Thus, our understanding of ancient Egyptian architecture is based mainly on

religious monuments, massive structures characterized by thick, sloping walls with few openings, possibly echoing a

method of construction used to obtain stability in mud walls. In a similar manner, the incised and flatly modeled surface

adornment of the stone buildings may have derived from mud wall ornamentation. Although the use of the arch was

developed during the fourth dynasty, all monumental buildings are post and lintel constructions, with flat roofs constructed

of huge stone blocks supported by the external walls and the closely spaced columns.Exterior and interior walls, as well as

the columns and piers, were covered with hieroglyphic and pictorial frescoes and carvings painted in brilliant colors. Many

motifs of Egyptian ornamentation are symbolic, such as the scarab, or sacred beetle, the solar disk, and the vulture. Other

common motifs include palm leaves, the papyrus plant, and the buds and flowers of the lotus. Hieroglyphs were inscribed

for decorative purposes as well as to record historic events or spells.Ancient Egyptian temples were aligned with

astronomically significant events, such as solstices and equinoxes, requiring precise measurements at the moment of the

particular event. Measurements at the most significant temples may have been ceremonially undertaken by the Pharaoh

himself.

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Egyptian ArchitectureSL

Egyptian Architecture

The word Mastaba comes from the Arabic word for "bench", because when seen from a distance it resembles a bench.

Inside the mastaba, a deep chamber was dug into the ground and lined with stone or bricks. The exterior building

materials were initially bricks made of sun dried mud which was readily available from the Nile River. Even as more

durable materials of stone came into use, the cheaper and easily available mud bricks were used for all but the most

important monumental structures. The above-ground structure was rectangular in shape, had sloping sides, a flat

roof, was about four times as long as it was wide, and rose to at least 30 feet in height. The mastaba was built with a

north-south orientation. This above ground structure had space for a small offering chapel equipped with a false door

to which priests and family members brought food and other offerings for the soul of the deceased. A second hidden

chamber called a "serdab", from the Arabic word for “cellar,” housed a statue of the deceased that was hidden within

the masonry for its protection. High up the walls of the serdab were small openings. These openings “were not meant

for viewing the statue but rather for allowing the fragrance of burning incense, and possibly the spells spoken in

rituals, to reach the statue.

The Tombs- Mastabas

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Mastaba of Zoser Complex (Stepped Pyramid Of Djoser),Saqqara

Conceived as a replica of the pharaoh’s palace in Memphis. The prominent structure was most probably meant to

defeat tomb robbers. The structure was finished in stepped limestone blocks and brick walls. Built by Imhotep, the

pyramid shows no less than five changes in plan. It began as a mastaba, then extended twice and later used as a basis

for a four-stepped pyramid. This was made of layers inclined against a steep-sided core, and was enlarged further.

Usually underground chambers were finished prior to the superstructure. A pit was approached by a tunnel that

emerged in an open ramp. It was later deepened and a granite tomb inserted at the bottom.

Egyptian ArchitectureThe Tombs- Mastabas

Above, was a limestone chamber containing a

granite plug to seal off the hole when the burial was

complete. The approach tunnel was also widened

and converted into a ramp. Four corridors emerge

from the bottom of the pit and connect to galleries

running parallel to the side of the pyramid.

. Separate pits, meant as tombs for members of the royal family were sealed off during the third phase.

The royal tomb is 28m underground with a vertical

shaft leading to it. The entrance was sealed with a 3

ton piece of granite. The face of the mastaba was a fine Tura limestone

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The Great Pyramid Of khufu

The Pyramid Of Cheops

The largest pyramid of all three. It was completed within a time span of 21 years. Its actual height was 146 mts but now

only 138 mts. The base side is 231 mts.The four sides face the cardinal points and are equilateral triangles of 51°52’. It was

built by enormous 2.8 million block of weight 2.1 tons each. The architect of this gaint structure was Hemun. There are

three separate, internal chambers due to changes of plan. The subterranean and the Queen’s chambers are discarded

projects. The original entrance was a descending corridor that was modified when an ascending one was cut in its ceiling.

When the Queen’s chamber was discarded, it was extended to what is called the Grand Gallery. This is covered by ramped

corbelled vault of seven great courses. At the top is the King’s chamber, where the granite sarcophagus was located, and

which like the vestibule is lined in granite. In the latter originally were three massive granite slabs, let down in slots in the

sidewalls, to seal the chamber after burial. There are five tiers, each consisting of nine great stone beams and ranged

with a void in between the layers, above one another. Above is an embryonic vault of pairs of great stones inclined against

each other. This device occurs in the Queen’s Chamber and over the entrance. Two shafts 203 mm x 152 mm for

ventilation (or to allow Ka free passage) lead from the King’s Chamber. Similar incomplete shafts occur in the Queen’s

Chamber. The pyramid was built in local stone and originally dressed in limestone. The apex was perhaps gilded. Only a

few casing stones survive and are bedded in a thin lime-mortar that was used as a lubricant rather than as an adhesive.

Little traces of the enclosure wall and of the attendant buildings survive. The queens were buried the pyramid, at a little

distance in three subsidiary pyramids with chapels. It was built somwhere around 3733 B.C.

Egyptian ArchitectureSL

The Giza Complex

The Pyramid Of Khafre (Chephren) (2530 B.C.)

It is the second largest pyramid after the one of Cheops.

It was 143.6 mts high but presently it is only 136 mts left.

Its base lenghtened 215.29 mts and is at the angle of 53010’ from the base.

Its bottom angle is lower due to cracking.

It is built of Limestone and Granite stones.

The Pyramid of Menkure (Mycerinos) (2500 B.C.)

It Is the Smallest of the three pyramids of the Giza complex.

It was originally built at the height of 66.5 mts though it ranges to only 62 mts now.

Its also made of Limestone and Granite stones.

Its square base of 104 mts in size and is the angle of 51020’

The Sphinx

Its date is unknown, is situated near the great pyramids, in the centre of an ancient stone quarry, and is a natural

rock cut to resemble a Sphinx, with rough masonry added in parts. An Egyptian Sphinx had the head of a king, a

hawk, a ram, or more rarely a woman, on the body of a lion. The dimensions of the Great Sphinx, which represents a

recumbent lion with the head of a man, are as follows : it is 65 feet high by 188 feet long, the face is 13 feet 6 inches

wide, and the mouth 8 feet 6 inches long. Greatly mutilated, it is still a marvel, as it has been throughout the ages.

The symbol for an insoluble problem, it is, and probably ever will be, a mystery. It was excavated in 1816 by Captain

Caviglia, who found a temple between the paws, and it has since been examined by Mariette and Maspero.

Egyptian ArchitectureSL

The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is situated beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the Nile near

the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Designed by the architect Senemut, the mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun god Amon-

Ra and is located next to the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II, which served both as an inspiration, and later, a quarry. It is

considered one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt."Although the adjacent, earlier mortuary temple of

Mentuhotep was used as a model, the two structures are nevertheless significantly different in many ways. Hatshepsut's

temple employs a lengthy, colonnaded terrace that deviates from the centralized structure of Mentuhotep’s model – an

anomaly that may be caused by the decentralized location of her burial chamber. There are three layered terraces reaching

97 feet tall. Each 'story' is articulated by a double colonnade of square piers, with the exception of the northwest corner o f

the central terrace, which employs Proto Doric columns to house the chapel. These terraces are connected by long ramps

which were once surrounded by gardens. The layering of Hatshepsut’s temple corresponds with the classical Theban form,

employing pylons, courts, hypostyle hall, sun court, chapel and sanctuary. The relief sculpture within Hatshepsut’s temple

recites the tale of the divine birth of a female pharaoh- the first of its kind. The text and pictorial cycle also tell of an

expedition to the Land of Punt, an exotic country on the Red Sea coast. While the statues and ornamentation have since been

stolen or destroyed, the temple once was home to two statues of Osiris, a sphinx avenue as well as many sculptures of the Queen in different attitudes – standing, sitting, or kneeling. It was built during the 15th century.

Funerary Temples

Egyptian ArchitectureSL

Funerary Temples

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Temples Of Khons

The entrance to the temple was between pylons," or massive / sloping towers, on each side of the central gateway

.Infront of the entrance were placed obelisks, and in front of these an avenue of sphinxes, forming a splendid approach to

the temple. This entrance gave access to the large outer courtyard, which was open to the sky in the centre, and

therefore called "hypaethral" (from two Greek words, meaning "under the air "). This courtyard was surrounded by a

double colonnade on three sides, and led up to the hypostyle hall, in which light was admitted by means of a clerestory

above, formed by the different height of the columns .Beyond this is the sanctuary, surrounded by a passage, and at the

rear is a smaller hall ; both the last chambers must have been dark or only imperfectly lighted. The whole collection of

buildings forming the temple was surrounded by a great wall as high as the buildings themselves.

The Later Temples

Temples Of Amon, Luxor and Karnak

The procession temples of the Nile valley were cut in the rock, West of Thebes. They indicate a religious design philosophy

based on the surrounding natural landscape. In fact, by the 3rd century BC, the simple square piers of the structures of

the Old Kingdom were supplanted by columns, decorated with capitals and bases, inspired by nature (lotus, palm and

papyrus). All temple plans denote a strong sense of axiality, therefore of procession (and processional grandeur). The

entrance was flanked by two sloping pylons (or towers) that represented the sloping rock faces of the Nile. A forecourt

leads to an enormous and monumental hypostyle (pillared hall with many columns supporting the roof), reminiscent of a

forest of trees. As the New kingdom increased its prosperity, more pylons and larger forecourts were added in front of

the existing structures. The temple complex invariably ends with a narrow sacred room, reserved for the image of the

god.

Egyptian ArchitectureSL

The Great Temple, Abu-Simbel

Egyptian architecture, and was entirely excavated out of the solid rock. It has a fore-court, at the back of

which is the imposing facade, 119 feet wide and over 100 feet high, formed as a pylon, and having four seated

colossi of Rameses II., each over 65 feet in height. The entrance leads to a vestibule, the ceiling of which is

supported by eight pillars, the walls having vividly colored reliefs. Eight smaller chambers, probably used to

store the temple utensils and furniture, adjoin this vestibule, and in the rear is a small hypostyle hall, 36

feet by 25 feet, having four pillars. Behind this is a long narrow chamber out of which are three apartments,

the centre and largest one being the sanctuary, with an altar and four seated figures of the deities

worshipped.

The Tombs at Beni-Hasan

In Upper Egypt, it forms a remarkable group of these rock-cut examples. There are 39 in all,

arranged in a row in the rocks .They were made during the twelfth dynasty (B.C. 2778-2565), a

period which was particularly remarkable for the progress of the arts of peace. The entrance to

the Tomb of Khnemhotep, known as Tomb No. 3, has two sixteen-sided columns, sometimes

considered to be a prototype of the Greek Doric order. These are slightly fluted and have an

entasis, and the deeply projecting cornice has stone beams carved out of the solid rock, indicating

a derivation from a wooden origin.

The Tomb of Trit-Aukh-Amon At Thebes

It is in Luxor(earlier called thebes) city. It has a rock columned hall and the walls were painted

with funeral scenes. The Later Temples And The Ancient Rock Cut Tombs

Egyptian Architecture

Hypostyle Halls Of the Temples

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