Colonnade Hall of Amenhotep III at Luxor Temple .. Part ( 8 )

We must now retrace our steps to the Forecourt of Amenhotep where we first entered the temple, in order that we may complete our survey of the 18^th dynasty buildings by viewing what is doubtless the most imposing part of the whole temple,

the great colonnade which is variously attributed to Amenhotep III, Tutankhamûn, and Haremhab . Strictly speaking, there can be no doubt that the credit of it should go to Amenhotep, whose architects designed it, although it was not completed in his reign .

A more vexed question, however, is whether the colonnade as we now see it, with the addition of the side-walls which are now ruined for the greater part of their height, was meant to be left thus as a complete unit of the temple structure, or whether it was designed to be completed by the addition of side-aisles, forming a great Hypostyle Hall, as at Karnak and the Ramesseum, of which the central colonnade should form the nave, and, by windows in its clerestory, afford light to the lower aisles .

The analogy with the pyramid-temples of the Old Kingdom which has been relied upon in support of the idea that the great work of Amenhotep was never intended to be anything more than a colonnaded approach to the Forecourt seems quite inadequate to bear the weight of the inference that has been put upon it ; while it appears both reasonable and probable that in Amenhotep's unfinished hall we see the germ of the conception which was within a short time to find its full fruition in the gigantic hall at Karnak . His conclusion is that the colonnade was never meant to be more, but it is perhaps safer to wait for fuller evidence before committing ourselves to one view or the other . Be it what it may, the great colonnade is one of the most impressive things in Egypt .

Tutankhamûn took up the work which had been interrupted here by the religious revolution of Akhenaten ; but his short reign can scarcely be held responsible for all the decoration, and Haremhab's cartouches doubtless represent a good deal of truth as well as a measure of usurpation . Seti I, Ramses II, and Seti II have also left their names here ; but probably with less claim to have done any serious work than in the case of Haremhab . The great columns are fourteen in number, and are of the open-flower papyrus form, as in the central avenue of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak . They measure 52 feet in height, and still bear their huge architrave blocks . Though less in height than the tremendous twelve at Karnak, they are finer in proportion than any of the work in the larger hall .

Part ( 9 ) Coming SoOoOon .....

Uploading .....