plan—a narrow axial passageway through the complex—is charac-
teristic of much of Egyptian architecture. Axial corridors are also the
approaches to the Great Pyramids (FIG. 3-10) and to Hatshepsut’s
multilevel mortuary temple (FIG. 3-20).
The dominating feature of the statuary-lined approach to a New
Kingdom temple was the monumental facade of the pylon, which
sculptors routinely covered with reliefs glorifying Egypt’s rulers (FIG.
3-38). Inside was an open court with columns on two or more sides,
followed by a hall between the court and sanctuary, its long axis
placed at right angles to the corridor of the entire building complex.
This hypostyle hall (one where columns support the roof ) was
crowded with massive columns, which supported a roof of stone
slabs carried on lintels. In Karnak’s hypostyle hall (FIGS. 3-25and
3-26), the columns have bud-cluster or bell-shaped capitals resem-
bling lotus or papyrus, the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt. The
central columns are 66 feet high, and the capitals are 22 feet in diam-
eter at the top, large enough to hold a hundred people. The Egyp-
tians, who used no cement, depended on precise cutting of the joints
and the weight of the huge stone blocks to hold the columns in place.
The two central rows of columns are taller than those at the sides.
Raising the roof ’s central section created a clerestory.Openings in the
clerestory permitted sunlight to filter into the interior, although the
stone grilles (FIG. 3-25) would have blocked much of the light. This
method of construction appeared in primitive form in the Old King-
dom valley temple of Khafre at Gizeh. The clerestory is evidently an
Egyptian innovation, and its significance hardly can be overstated.
Before the invention of the electric light bulb, illuminating a build-
ing’s interior was always a challenge for architects. The clerestory
played a key role in the history of architecture until very recently.
In the hypostyle hall at Karnak, the columns are indispensable
structurally, unlike the rock-cut columns of the tombs at Beni Hasan
(FIGS. 3-18and 3-19) and Abu Simbel (FIG. 3-23). But horizontal
bands of painted sunken reliefsculpture almost hide their function as
vertical supports. To create these reliefs, the New Kingdom sculptors
chiseled deep outlines below the stone’s surface, rather than cut back
the stone around the figures to make the figures project from the sur-
face. Sunken reliefs preserve the contours of the columns they adorn.
Otherwise, the Karnak columns would have had an irregular, wavy
profile. Despite this effort to maintain sharp architectural lines, the
overwhelming of the surfaces with reliefs indicates that the architects’
intention was not to emphasize the functional role of the columns.
Instead, they used columns as image- and message-bearing surfaces.Sculpture and Painting
Although the great temple complexes of the New Kingdom were lav-
ishly decorated with statues and painted reliefs, many of the finest
examples of statuary and mural painting were produced for tombs,
as in the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
SENMUT AND NEFRURABlock statueswere extremely pop-
ular during the New Kingdom. In these works the idea that the ka
could find an eternal home in the cubic stone image of the deceased
was expressed in an even more radical simplification of form than
was common in Old Kingdom statuary. In the statue (FIG. 3-27)
of Senmut and Princess Nefrura, the streamlined design concen-
trates attention on the heads and treats the two bodies as a single cu-
bic block, given over to inscriptions. Hatshepsut’s chancellor holds
the pharaoh’s daughter by Thutmose II in his “lap” and envelops the3-27Senmut with Princess Nefrura, from Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty,
ca. 1470–1460 bce.Granite, 3^1 – 2 high. Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.
New Kingdom block statues exhibit an even more radical simplification
of form than do Old Kingdom statues. Here, Hatshepsut’s chancellor
holds the queen’s daughter in his “lapand envelops her in his cloak.3-26Model of the hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re, Karnak,
Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290–1224 bce.Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York.
The two central rows of columns of Karnak’s hypostyle hall are taller
than the rest. Raising the roof’s central section created a clerestory that
admitted light to the interior through windows with stone grilles.
The New Kingdom 711 ft.