Fodor's Expert Review Karnak Temples

One of the world's largest religious sites, Karnak is not just one temple but a giant complex of massive story-telling pylons; a huge hypostyle hall that's a forest of columns; and a scattering of seemingly countless temples, chapels, and obelisks. Some 30 pharaohs—as well as the Greek Ptolemies and early Christians—stamped their style and erased past names from Karnak over thousands of years, resulting in a hodgepodge of structures and designs. As a rule, the farther you walk into the complex, the more ancient the constructions.

Karnak is divided into three precincts dedicated to important gods of ancient Thebes—Amun-Ra, Mut, and Montu—but the Precinct of Amun-Ra is the only area that's fully open for visitors. Fortunately, it's also the most fascinating. 

Although you can access Karnak from the Avenue of Sphinxes, its main entry is via the Avenue of Ram-Headed Sphinxes, which leads to the Precinct of Amun-Ra, the major part of the Karnak. The First Pylon was actually the last one built and was left unfinished by the pharaohs of the 30th Dynasty. Walk through the pylon and spot the remains of the ancient mud-brick ramp used to build it.

In the Great Forecourt, a solitary 69-foot-tall column with an open papyrus capital is all that remains of the Kiosk of Taharqa (690–664 BC), an Ethiopian pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty. The small temple to the left of the forecourt entrance is the Shrine of Seti II (19th Dynasty), which has three small chapels that stored the sacred barques (boats) for the gods during the Opet processions and are depicted on the walls. In the southeast portion of the Great Forecourt, two colossi representing the king front the Temple of Ramses III (20th Dynasty), which follows the standard New Kingdom design of pylon: the open-air courtyard has arms-crossed statues in the form of Osiris (god of the afterlife), and a hypostyle hall. Like the wider Karnak temple complex, this temple has three chapels for each god of the Theban Triad.

Constructed during the reign of Horemheb (18th Dynasty), the Second Pylon was built with blocks recycled from dismantled monuments from Akhenaten, who changed the state religion and was seen as a heretic. The blocks were usurped and reused again by Ramses I and Ramses II.

The second pylon opens onto the Great Hypostyle Hall, a towering forest of 134 columns in 16 rows. The tallest reach nearly 80 feet into the sky, but originally this hall had a roof. The colors and hieroglyphs are remarkable. The 12 columns alongside the processional way have open-papyrus capitals, while the other columns have papyrus-bud capitals and are smaller. The New Kingdom pharaoh Seti I built much of the elaborate hall, and it was completed by his son, Ramses II.

Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty) constructed the Third Pylon, which leads to a handful of obelisks, including the 70-foot-tall Obelisk of Thutmose I (18th Dynasty) and, past the Fourth Pylon, the Obelisk of Hatshepsut. The lower part of her obelisk is well preserved because Thutmose III, Hatshepsut's stepson and successor, encased it within a brick wall, probably not to preserve it but to hide its presence.

Beyond the Fifth Pylon and Sixth Pylon, look for the two Pillars of Thutmose III carved with papyrus and lotus plants representing the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. Nearby are elegant statues of the gods Amun-Ra and Amunet, carved during the reign of Tutankhamun. Philip III Arrhidaeus, the half-brother and successor of Alexander the Great, built a red granite Sanctuary on the site of an earlier temple destroyed by the Persians. 

At the end of Karnak's east–west axis is the Festival Hall of Thutmose III, erected to commemorate the pharaoh's military campaigns in Asia. The unusual columns are representations of tent poles used when traveling to battle. Behind the hall is the "botanical garden," a vestibule with reliefs showing plants and animals that the pharaoh brought back from his expeditions. Spot the graffiti that indicates that this hall was later used as a church.

Several monuments and courtyards also run along Karnak's north–south axis, which begins between the third and fourth pylons. The Cachette Court, at the northernmost part of the axis, was so named because of the thousands of statues and bronzes found in it in 1903. To the south lie the seventh through tenth pylons, separated by courtyards. Archaeological work continues in this area, and not all locations are accessible. A path continues southbound outside the Precinct of Amun to the Avenue of Sphinxes, which links to Luxor Temple. 

The Sacred Lake is near the Cachette Court, and it's where priests purified themselves before rituals and where you can take a break in the waterside café. At the northwest corner of the lake, a large scarab statue dates from the reign of Amenhotep III. Farther to the northwest lie the fallen remains of the other Obelisk of Hatshepsut (its partner is back between the fourth and fifth pylons).

Karnak is home to plenty more temples, chapels, and pylons that are less visited but still impressive. The Open-Air Museum north of the First Pylon contains the small Chapel of Senusret I, which dates from 1971 BC but was dismantled by Amenhotep III and used to fill the Third Pylon about 600 years later. The chapel contains high-quality reliefs that show the pharaoh being crowned and the deities of provinces around Egypt. The nearby Red Chapel of Hatshepsut was used to keep sacred boats for festivals.

Karnak has a Sound and Light Show (LE300) that includes a walk through the gradually lit complex, ending at the sacred lake, where you take a seat and the second part begins. For the steep ticket price, the display gets mixed reviews and feels outdated.