DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0109
78
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
four obelisks ; one at present remains, a monument of sur-
passing beauty, and appears to great advantage, shooting
up, as it does, into the azure vault of an almost
cloudless sky. It is composed of the finest rose-coloured
granite, and has been grooved down the edges, and
worked with the utmost exactness. The few hiero-
glyphics inscribed upon it are also of the finest work-
manship. Many of these buildings were no doubt
hypasthral, and the effects of light and shade seem to
have been well understood by those who planned and
executed them. Mr. Wilkinson remarks, that the central
temple is more than 100 years older than any other
building at Thebes, and that the cartouche of Osirtesen
is inscribed in it: the cartouche however of Thothmes
the Third is also to be found towards the bottom of a
doorway.7 The ceiling had been formed of large slabs
of granite, ornamented with gilt stars upon a blue ground.
The figures upon the walls were sculptured, and painted
upon the stone in some places with different and appro-
priate colours, and in others with a greenish gray, which
formed a pleasing contrast with the warm tints of the
polished granite. The cartouche of Osirtesen was also
inscribed upon some ruined columns in an adjoining
building, which are called polygonal, but which are
essentially Doric, excepting that the echinus, annuli,
and hypotrachelion are wanting. Mr. Wilkinson has
justly observed, that they prove the pure taste of the
7 The doorway is much decayed, having been composed of basalt,
which seems ill adapted to withstand the corroding effects of the desert
sands; but the whole apartment has been materially injured by anti-
quarian researches, carried on, as it is said, under the direction of Mr.
Dronetti.
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
four obelisks ; one at present remains, a monument of sur-
passing beauty, and appears to great advantage, shooting
up, as it does, into the azure vault of an almost
cloudless sky. It is composed of the finest rose-coloured
granite, and has been grooved down the edges, and
worked with the utmost exactness. The few hiero-
glyphics inscribed upon it are also of the finest work-
manship. Many of these buildings were no doubt
hypasthral, and the effects of light and shade seem to
have been well understood by those who planned and
executed them. Mr. Wilkinson remarks, that the central
temple is more than 100 years older than any other
building at Thebes, and that the cartouche of Osirtesen
is inscribed in it: the cartouche however of Thothmes
the Third is also to be found towards the bottom of a
doorway.7 The ceiling had been formed of large slabs
of granite, ornamented with gilt stars upon a blue ground.
The figures upon the walls were sculptured, and painted
upon the stone in some places with different and appro-
priate colours, and in others with a greenish gray, which
formed a pleasing contrast with the warm tints of the
polished granite. The cartouche of Osirtesen was also
inscribed upon some ruined columns in an adjoining
building, which are called polygonal, but which are
essentially Doric, excepting that the echinus, annuli,
and hypotrachelion are wanting. Mr. Wilkinson has
justly observed, that they prove the pure taste of the
7 The doorway is much decayed, having been composed of basalt,
which seems ill adapted to withstand the corroding effects of the desert
sands; but the whole apartment has been materially injured by anti-
quarian researches, carried on, as it is said, under the direction of Mr.
Dronetti.