Ancient Egyptian Architecture

Characteristics of Egyptian
Architecture
Massive structures came to be favoured
from the Old Kingdom on.
Mud brick was the principal building
material for domestic building.
Stone was favoured for temples and tombs.

Characteristics of Egyptian
Architecture

Features of mud
construction were
often echoed in stone.
For example, columns
were built to resemble
plants or bunches of
plants.

Characteristics of Egyptian
Architecture.

Features of mud
construction were
often echoed in stone.
Corner detailing often
resembled bunches of
reeds used as a binding
material in mud
construction.

Funerary Structures
Egyptian aristocratic culture focussed on
preparation for life after death.
Preservation of bodies through
mummification and providing goods for the
afterlife were considered essential.

Mastabas
Early Old Kingdom aristocratic and royal
burials were in mastabas - square or
rectangular buildings connected by shafts to
tomb chambers deep beneath the earth.
The mastaba also housed a chapel and a
statue of the dead.

Mastabas
Chapel

Shaft

Tomb

Zosers Step Pyramid

Built during the 3rd

dynasty, Zosers
architect, Imhotep,
added steps above
Zosers mastaba to
create a step pyramid
-- a stairway to the
heavens.

The Great Pyramids of Gizeh

These were built during the 4th dynasty.
What remains is but a fraction of the great
funerary districts of each of the pyramids.
Construction was hugely labour intensive -but this was paid labour during slow
agricultural seasons, not slave labour as is
commonly supposed.

The Great Pyramids at Gizeh

Section of Pyramid of Khufu

Relieving
Blocks
Grand Gallery
Kings Chamber
Queens Chamber
Thieves Tunnel
False Tomb Chamber

Entrance

The Great Pyramids of Gizeh

These were buildings that housed chambers

and passages, including small air shafts that
may have been used for ventilation -- or
were, perhaps, passages for the spirit of the
pharaohs to pass through.
Pyramid building was abandoned during the
Old Kingdom. They provided tomb robbers
with easily identifiable targets.

The Theban Necropolis

Pyramidal structures were abandoned in the

Old Kingdom.
Later Pharaohs were buried in Upper Egypt
across the Nile from Karnak.
Large concentrations of tombs were cut into
cliffsides at what are now known as the
Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the
Queens.

Theban Necropolis.

Interiors were richly decorated with

paintings and low-relief carvings.

The Valley of the Kings

Entrances were hidden

to protect tomb
treasures from graverobbers.
Over the millennia this
has proven largely
unsuccessful. Only
Tutenkhamens tomb
eluded them.

Mortuary Temples

Though mummies and treasures might be

concealed, more conspicuous temple
structures were still required -- like
Hatshepsuts temple near the Theban
Necropolis.

Temples

These were built in the same forms as

palaces, with three increasingly restricted
areas.

Entrance

Hypostile Hall

Second Pylon
First Pylon

Sacred Area
including Chapels

Temples
The entire temple was surrounded by a
windowless wall.
Within the temple, light and shadow were
important features.
Walls might be blank or incised with low
relief carvings.

Temple Wall

Temples

Lighting through wall openings, columns,

and clerestory windows in the colonnade,
were intended to feature particular
locations. In the case of Abu Simbel, the
statures on the wall deepest in the temple,
emerged from shadow on two days during
the year.

Abu Simbel

Temple at Karnak

Great Pylons marked entrances.

Luxor Temple

The most public area was a large courtyard,

surrounded by a post and lintel colonnade.

Temple at Karnak

The Second Area was the great hypostyle

hall, with its dense forest of columns.

Temple of Karnak

Columns & Capitals in Hypostyle Hall

Temple Architecture

Light & shadow were

important features.
Light came through:
Wall openings
gaps between columns
clerestory windows

In Closing
Egyptian Architecture showed both variety
and continuity over ca. 3,000 years.
While domestic structures of mud brick
have been obliterated by time, monumental
structures in stone still astound visitors to
Egypt today.

Sources

Slides from Corel Gallery Magic Photo Library.

Amiet, Pierre et.al. Forms and Styles; Antiquity.
Cologne, Evergreen, 1981.
Janson, H.W. (and Anthony), History of Art.
Abrams, New York, 1995.
Ruffle, John. Heritage of the Pharaohs. Oxford,
Phaidon, 1977.
Stierlin, Henri. Encyclopedia of World
Architecture. Cologne, Evergreen, 1977.