NOVA Online | Mysteries of the Nile | Karnak Temple: Great Hypostyle Hall (S side/s)

Karnak Temple: Great Hypostyle Hall (S side)

The English writer Amelia Edwards, who traveled through Egypt in the 1870s, described Karnak as "a place ... of which no writing and no art can convey more than a dwarfed and pallid impression." We're the first to admit that the same is true of these 360° images; the only real way to gain a sense of the vastness of the Great Hypostyle Hall is to walk through it yourself. But until you can get there, we hope images like this will suffice.

The openwork stone windows known as claustra once lined both sides of the Hall's central gallery.

In this 360° image, you begin facing north towards the center aisle of the Hall, which follows the east-west direction of the early-morning sunlight. Notice the grid-like structure atop the pillars rising in the center of the image. These so-called "claustra," or openwork windows in stone, once lined the sides of the central gallery and allowed shafts of light to angle pleasingly into the interior.

Gustave Flaubert's "palace of giants."

Turning to the right (east), you'll see the obelisk of Tuthmosis I silhouetted against the rising sun. To the south and west, where dozens of pillars crowd one another for space, you can understand why Gustave Flaubert, on his visit to Karnak in the 19th century, called the temple "a palace of giants." Keep your eyes peeled for scaffolding, which workers utilize in the Hall's ongoing restoration.