The great Forecourt of Amenhotep III, or as it is called ( Sun Court or
Solar Court ) is one of the most perfect and noble examples of good 18th
dynasty work . It measures 148 feet in depth from north to south, and 184 feet
in width from east to west .
It is a peristyle court, and is surrounded on
three sides by double rows of clustered papyrus-bud columns ( 64 columns ) .
The columns are of fine proportions and in good preservation, except at the
north end of the court .
Unfortunately the roofing-blocks which originally
rested upon the architraves have perished, so that we cannot see the court with
the effect of deep shadow contrasted with brilliant sunshine, for which it was
designed . Yet even in its wrecked condition the court is most impressive .
Its north end was originally the entrance to the whole
temple, as Amenhotep or his architects conceived it, and here stood the great
gateway from which the avenue of sphinxes ran to unite the temple with Karnak ;
but this arrangement was altered, later in the reign, by the building of the
great colonnade, which was not completed at the death of the king .
It
must always be remembered, in viewing this and all other such courts, that we
are seeing only the ghost of the original structure, not only in form, but also
in colour . The reliefs and inscriptions, instead of being, as at present,
dependent merely on shadow for their effect, were all picked out in bright
colour, and the effect of the whole, under an Egyptian sun, must have been
brilliant . It would be well, also, to keep in mind the fact that it is the
clustered papyrus column that we see here, or in the shrine of Tuthmosis III,
and not the monstrous degeneration of it that we shall shortly see in the
forecourt of Ramses II, and, still more in the work of Ramses III at Madinet
Habu, that is the typical Egyptian form of columnar architecture, by which that
architecture ought to be judged .
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