DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4644#0043
OBLIQUE VIEW OF THE HALL OF COLUMNS, KARNAK.
As the Temple of Karnak is the grandest of all the works that remain to us of the Pharaohs, so this
stupendous Hall of Columns is the most wonderful part of this celebrated Temple. Views have been
given, not only through the central avenue of the loftiest of these columns, but across the hall
intersecting this forest of pillars; when among them, however, and it is only then that their vastness
is most impressive, it is impossible to see their entire height at once, for they subtend under vertical
angles so large that they can only be commanded by a considerable motion of the head. In a
transverse view, also contained in this work, the angle, formed by the nearer but much lower columns,
those which were surmounted with square stone framework, to form openings like lanthorn-lights to a
roof, through which only light was admitted into the Hall, is still too great, for these, even in their
ruin, concealed the real height of the central and two nearest avenues of columns, which were covered
in by enormous blocks of stone that rested flat upon them, and formed at once the roof and the
ceiling; the lower ranges were also roofed by the same gigantic means, and all was enclosed against
light except at the entrances and from the openings above into the centre avenues. The solemn gloom
of such an immense chamber, with so little light, may be imagined, but of its appearance it is very
difficult for the artist to convey an idea. Their immensity, their proximity, and the confusion into
which some have fallen, led Mr. Roberts to attempt this oblique view also, in the conviction that he
ought not to omit to make his subject clear, if possible; and in this he has shewn part of the two
central rows of columns, seventy-two feet high, and with their capitals of the flowering lotus, twenty-two
feet wide: on either side is a row of shorter columns, with the budding lotus capitals, forty-three feet
high, surmounted by the square stone framing for the admission of light. The top of this is level with
the capitals of the central columns, and supported the central roof, and on either side of these are the
numerous ranges of columns upon which the lower roof rests. The Artist's object in selecting these
different views of Karnak has been to convey to the untravelled in Egypt some idea of those
stupendous works, which have left an undying fame to her Pharaohs.
As the Temple of Karnak is the grandest of all the works that remain to us of the Pharaohs, so this
stupendous Hall of Columns is the most wonderful part of this celebrated Temple. Views have been
given, not only through the central avenue of the loftiest of these columns, but across the hall
intersecting this forest of pillars; when among them, however, and it is only then that their vastness
is most impressive, it is impossible to see their entire height at once, for they subtend under vertical
angles so large that they can only be commanded by a considerable motion of the head. In a
transverse view, also contained in this work, the angle, formed by the nearer but much lower columns,
those which were surmounted with square stone framework, to form openings like lanthorn-lights to a
roof, through which only light was admitted into the Hall, is still too great, for these, even in their
ruin, concealed the real height of the central and two nearest avenues of columns, which were covered
in by enormous blocks of stone that rested flat upon them, and formed at once the roof and the
ceiling; the lower ranges were also roofed by the same gigantic means, and all was enclosed against
light except at the entrances and from the openings above into the centre avenues. The solemn gloom
of such an immense chamber, with so little light, may be imagined, but of its appearance it is very
difficult for the artist to convey an idea. Their immensity, their proximity, and the confusion into
which some have fallen, led Mr. Roberts to attempt this oblique view also, in the conviction that he
ought not to omit to make his subject clear, if possible; and in this he has shewn part of the two
central rows of columns, seventy-two feet high, and with their capitals of the flowering lotus, twenty-two
feet wide: on either side is a row of shorter columns, with the budding lotus capitals, forty-three feet
high, surmounted by the square stone framing for the admission of light. The top of this is level with
the capitals of the central columns, and supported the central roof, and on either side of these are the
numerous ranges of columns upon which the lower roof rests. The Artist's object in selecting these
different views of Karnak has been to convey to the untravelled in Egypt some idea of those
stupendous works, which have left an undying fame to her Pharaohs.