Karnak Open Air Museum is an archaeological museum in

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. It is located in the northwestern corner of the

Precinct of Amon-Re The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main temple enclosures that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these and the only one that is open to the general public. The te ...

at the

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...

complex. The Open Air Museum contains reconstructions of structures that have been dismantled and buried or hidden inside the massive

pylons Pylon may refer to: Structures and boundaries * Pylon (architecture), the gateway to the inner part of an Ancient Egyptian temple or Christian cathedral * Pylon, a support tower structure for suspension bridges or highways * Pylon, an orange mar ...

in the complex. As Karnak became more prominent, pharaohs sought to leave their mark on the temple complex with their own monuments. As successive rulers built their monuments, they dismantled the old ones and utilized the materials in their own designs. Preventive archaeological excavations before the renovation of Amenhotep II's calcite shrine were observed in this area by the Centre Franco-Égyptien d'Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK), including an urban unit with mudbricks walls of Saito-Persian time. Also discovered during CFEETK excavations were terracotta figures with female representation called "concubines;" such figures are commonly found in levels related to construction and may be votive objects which ensure the sustainability of construction.

Notable shrines

A number of shrines have been rebuilt and among these edifices are the #

Chapelle Rouge The Red Chapel of Hatshepsut or the Chapelle rouge was a religious shrine in Ancient Egypt. The chapel was originally constructed as a barque shrine during the reign of Hatshepsut. She was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty from ...

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, aft ...

# The

White Chapel The White Chapel of pharaoh Senusret I, also referred to as the Jubilee Chapel of Senusret I, was built during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. During the New Kingdom it was demolished and used as filler for the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak, ...

Senusret I Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the most ...

# The calcite shrine of

Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning ''Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few militar ...

# Barque shrine of King Tuthmosis III # Chapel of Amenhotep I # Barque Chapel of Thutmosis IV

References

External links

The Karnak Open Air Museum in Luxor, EgyptCFEETK Bibliographies on the Karnak Temple Complex
Karnak temple complex {{AncientEgypt-stub