NORTH PALACE OF AKHENATEN

Palace Name: The Northern Palace, also

called the North Palace
Location: In the abandoned Northern
Suburbs of the city of Ahketaten
(modern Amarna, in Egypt)
Ruling Pharaoh: Akhenaten, known
before the fifth year of his reign
as Amenhotep IV
Kingdom: 18th Dynasty, NEW KINGDOM
When was it built: 3360 years ago
Coordinates: 274012N 305412E

Conjecture surrounds the excavated structure in northern Amarna (ancient Akhetaten) known
as the North Palace and not to be confused with the nearby building known as the Riverside Palace. At
best, we believe that the structure was eventually converted into a palace for Akhenaten's oldest
daughter, Princess Meritaten, and may have previously been the home of one of his queens
(perhaps Nefertiti, but now thought to be Kiya). It could very well be that the future
king, Tutankhamun was raised in this palace. However, the origins of the building are more obscure and
some scholars believe it may have once served as perhaps a retreat for the king as a sort of zoological
garden where he could satisfy his love of nature. It has even been suggested that it could have been
Akhenaten's principle residence, though this view seems to now be out of favor.

North Palace Floor Plan

 The structure, which can be reached directly from the North Tombs by a road leading through
the fields or by a short detour northwards from el-Till is called by the locals Kasr Nefertiti, meaning "The
Palace of Nefertiti", but this is a misnomer. Visitors usually approach it from the desert, and thus from
the back of the building. Because the brickwork is fragile it is now protected by a barbed-wire fence
from which visitors are normally excluded.
This is an isolated, self contained structure beside the cultivation which was excavated during
1923 and 1924. Since then, much reconstruction and consolidation has been undertaken and the plan of
the various elements of the structure can be clearly seen. Some of the missing column bases have also
bee replaced with modern replicas.
The North Palace takes the form of a rectangular structure measuring 112 by 142 meters with
thick outer walls build along three sides of a long, open space. The arrangement of a series of courts and
pillared halls with mangers for antelopes, ibexes and gazelles and small contiguous cells around a central
garden for birds seems to have formed the basic incentive in the creation of this unique complex.

The building is divided transversely as well as longitudinally into three sections. In the center of
the western most wall a gateway opens to the Nile River. Within this entrance is a large court followed
by a wall or pylon and a second court that was probably a large pool but it is possible that this could
have also been a well. To the north of the first court was a sun chapel with three solar altars, of which
traces of their cement foundations can still be seen. There are also a series of contiguous cells to either
side of the altars that probably functioned as storage areas. South of the first court is a complex of two
symmetrical peristyle chambers.
The second court, which has been called a water court, was surrounded by a terrace with trees
and bordered to the north by three contiguous identical elements of zoological gardens. Each of these
elements are fronted with a common portico on pillars, a central court bordered laterally by a portico
and at the rear, a pillared hall containing painted animal stalls. To the south was a complex of chambers
that may have functioned as space for guards and officials.
 At the very rear of the complex beyond the second court was the royal apartment with a terrace
as an approach from the court to a hypostyle hall. Within the apartment is a shallow transverse hall
connected to two lateral corridors ending with an observation window and a throne room with lateral
groups of rooms, among which can be recognized a bathroom and a bedroom, with an alcove at the
south end.
To the north of the royal apartment is a sunken garden surrounded on three sides by
a portico and contiguous cells that were presumably for birds. This is the most famous part of the
palace. When excavated, the walls of the surrounding chambers still bore areas of painted plaster. The
central room on the north side, the "Green Room", was painted with a continuous frieze depicting the
natural life of the marshes. Here, the walls were adorned with spectacular paintings of birds, some
diving into the marshes for prey.Within this room were also staggered rows of niches that most likely
acted as nesting boxes. In another cell, we find a lively goose which provides striking testimony to the
skill and taste of the artist. Each chamber possessed a window through which the central garden, sunk
beneath the level of the pavement, could by viewed.

To the south of the royal apartment stretches a complex consisting of a court bordered by a lateral
portico fronting five deep rooms and at the rear, a huge pillared hall.
The decoration of the whole structure shows a uniform plan.
Above a black or blue dado are alternating bands of blue and red,
separated by a narrow stripe of white and surmounted by a kheker
frieze. The bands, which turn vertical at the corners of the rooms and
again horizontal at the top, form a frame to a yellow background
painted with figures of men and animals mostly consisting of birds and
fishes. The ceilings were apparently treated as a trellis of vine. Floors
were also painted with nature scenes.
 The remains of the sunken garden in the North Palace.

The elements of this palace resemble various parts of other palaces in Central City and
elsewhere at Amarna. The layout is a beautiful example of an elaborate and symmetrical arrangement
to answer the unique program of a zoological garden combined with a royal retreat. When set against
the religious background of the period and when examining a temple such as that at Maru-Aten to the
south, this complex possible assumes the aspect of a reserve were various specimens of animal life were
kept as a symbol of the potential power of the creator god, Aten.
Additional Data from the Armana Project
(http://amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/north_palace/index.shtml)

It was built along three sides of a long open space, itself divided into two parts by a wall and pylon, the
individual elements respecting a symmetry around the central east-west axis. The individual parts
comprise:

Aerial photograph of the front (western) portions of the North Palace

An entrance in the west faade between two short pylons into an open court.

View of the altar court after excavation in 1923, towards the south

Reconstruction of the altar

group
The western line of storerooms in the altar court. The piece of stone door jamb bore the name of the
princess Meritaten

On the north side of the court a wide space leading up to a group of three stepped platforms
originally built of stone upon a gypsum base and facing towards the local north direction. The
central and largest was flanked with two rows of four offering-tables. The east and west sides of
the space were each occupied by a row of parallel chambers, perhaps storage magazines.
On the south side of the court a narrower space was surrounded with the foundations of brick
buildings that seem to have included magazines surrounded by colonnades.
The remains of a monumental entrance to the main inner court, consisting of two masses of
brickwork, like pylons, flanking a wide area of gypsum foundation that had originally supported
columns as well as a stone pavement. Two narrower entrances also with stone pavements
flanked the outer ends of the pylons. In front of each of these was a pair of square gypsum
foundations for a free-standing object, perhaps statues. One interpretation of the central
stonework is that it formed a Window of Appearance directed towards the west.
The main inner court is marked by a large depression that seems to have had a rectangular
outline at ground level, with a row of tree pits on the north side. Excavation and drilling with a
light auger have failed to establish how deeply the depression is filled with debris although the
auger reached a depth of eight metres below the present ground level. Rather than being a lake
or sunken garden the depression seems to mark the presence of a deep and large well. It was
the source of water for the sunken garden in the north-east corner of the palace, a buried
limestone conduit linking the two.
Row of earth-filled tree pits along the north side of the central depression, as first revealed in 1923, view
to the west

The north side of this inner court is divided into three similar building units, combining a central
open space and roofed areas supported on square brick pillars. The easternmost has additional
features, in the form of two sets of limestone feeding-troughs for animals combined with
tethering-stones. Those in the inner compartment were larger and decorated with carvings of
oxen. The smaller troughs, in the outer compartment, were decorated with horned desert
animals. The group of three building units were thus intended for the housing of different kinds
of animals.

Excavation photograph of 1923 showing the limestone mangers depicting cattle, view to the north
Photograph of the cattle mangers in 1984. The carved blocks had been removed for donation to
museums in 1923.

Carved manger blocks

Carved manger blocks

On the south side the equivalent space was filled with what look like service buildings: houses,
probably a bakery, and kilns where perhaps faience jewellery was produced.
Aerial photograph of the central rear (eastern) part of the North Palace

General view of the rear part of the North Palace, viewed to the north-east

The rear part of the palace was a continuous run of buildings. That in the centre was the main
part of the palace. At the very rear lay a tiny throne room on the central axis. In front of this was
a transverse hall of columns (the column bases are the originals) that led to a large many-
columned hall, the central feature of the palace. The positions of these column bases are now
marked in modern cement. They have an unusual arrangement in that in the outer row the
columns were more closely spaced than was the case with those in the centre, presumably
indicating that the central part of the roof was raised up taller on broader and hence more
widely spaced columns. In front of this hall was a stone terrace that supported a canopy on
stone columns. It was reached by a staircase or ramp that extended back into the hall. The
positions of the ramp and the terrace are now marked with modern stone blocks, following the
lines of the original foundations. Immediately to the south of the hall was the principal bedroom
and bathroom for the palaces owner. Other spaces were occupied by storerooms and perhaps
accommodation for attendants.
Excavation photograph of 1923, viewed to the south, showing the bathroom (right) and the remains of
the adjacent bedroom (left)

Excavation photograph of 1923, viewed to the south, showing the bathroom, with limestone floor,
sandstone tank, and gypsum covering of the walls

The north section of the rear part was a garden court occupying the north-east corner of the
building. When excavated, the walls of the surrounding chambers still bore areas of painted
plaster. The central room on the north side, the Green Room, was painted with a continuous
frieze depicting the natural life of the marshes. Each chamber on the east possessed a window
through which the central garden, sunk beneath the level of the pavement, could by viewed.
The garden court of the North Palace, viewed to the north, after repairs in 1999

Row of chambers with windows on the east side of the garden court, viewed to the south

Pilaster carved with plant design at the end of the eastern colonnade in front of the eastern row of
chambers in the garden court
One of the windows in the eastern chambers. Note the remains of wall painting on the outside surface

Central sunken garden in the garden court, subdivided by mud ridges into cubit-sized plots

View of the garden court showing the location (restored) of one of the paintings of the Green Room
Reconstructed placing of the decorative scheme of the Green Room. The version of the painting is a
recreation by F. Weatherhead

Watercolour copy of one of the Green Room paintings, by N. de G. Davies

Watercolour copies of paintings around the garden court, by F. G. Newton

One of the chambers on the west side of the garden court, on which, in 1923, the painting was
discovered depicting a goose feeding from a pottery jar

Watercolour copy of a
painting depicting a goose
feeding from a pottery jar

The corresponding section in the south-east corner was at first filled with storerooms and with a
large roofed space supported on brick pillars. During the life of the building the storerooms
were converted into houses and the pillared hall subdivided by partition walls.

Several staircases were built into the rear of the palace, raising the possibility that, apart from the
central part, a second storey might have been present, including over the rooms surrounding the garden
court.

Many inscriptions found in the North Palace show that, whilst it may have been originally made for
Nefertiti or Kiya (a queen prominent in the earlier part of Akhenaten's reign) it was later converted into
a palace for the eldest daughter and heiress, Princess Meritaten.
Limestone door jamb from the western storerooms of the altar court. The name of the kings daughter
Meritaten has been carved over an earlier name

Reconstruction of one of the

limestone columns from the
eastern part of the palace. The
texts name the kings daughter
Meritaten after the name of
Akhenaten

Copy of a fragment of column drum in the British Museum. Traces

of hieroglyphs beneath the name Meritaten seem to be consistent
with name of Kiya. Copy by N. Reeves.