Pilleau, Henry: Sketches in Egypt (London, 1845)

No. 5.

INTERIOR OF THE GREAT HALL OF KARNAC (THEBES).

This sketch represents a portion of the interior of the great hall of Karnac.

Before visiting this beautiful building, it is advisable that the traveller should see
the other ruins in Upper Egypt, for by comparison with this they all sink into utter insig-
nificance. The principal approach to the great Hall of Karnac is through an avenue of
sphinxes, terminating in a superb gateway of granite highly sculptured. This magnificent
hall, with its obelisks, statues, gateways, and adjoining temples, forms a mass of colossal
ruins that surpass probably in grandeur and extent any that exist in the known world.

Imagine in one area 134 pillars, all elaborately sculptured with figures and hiero-
glyphics, and two rows in the centre, nearly 80 feet high, supporting enormous architraves.

The whole area of this vast hall contains 57,629 square feet; and to give some
idea of its enormous size, it is mentioned in a work on Egyptian antiquities, published by
the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, that four such churches as St. Martin's
in the Fields, London, might stand side by side in the area of this hall, without occupying
the whole space ; for the width of the hall of Karnac is more than four times that of the
front of St. Martin's church, while the depth of the former exceeds the length of the latter
by more than 32 feet.