Egyptian Architecture.ppt 4s6vs

NAME

DYNASTY

YEARS

Archaic Period

1-2

3100-2700 B.C.

Old Kingdom

3-6

2700-2200 B.C.

Intermediate Period

7-10

2200-2050 B.C.

Middle Kingdom

11-12

2050-1800 B.C.

Intermediate Period

13-17

1800-1570 B.C.

New Kingdom

18-20

1570-1085 B.C.

Post-Empire

21-31

1085-332 B.C.

•The Nile River rises from the lakes of central Africa as the White Nile and from the mountains of Ethiopia as the Blue Nile. •The White and Blue Nile meet at Khartoum and flow together northward to the Nile delta, where the 4000 mile course of this river ends at the Mediterranean Sea.

© 1998 Oriental Institute, University of Chicago

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Massive structures came to be favoured from the Old Kingdom on.

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Mud brick was the principal building material for domestic building.

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Stone was favoured for temples and tombs.

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Features of mud construction were often echoed in stone. › For example,

columns were built to resemble plants or bunches of plants.

› Corner detailing

often resembled bunches of reeds used as a binding material in mud construction.

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Egyptian aristocratic culture focussed on preparation for life after death.

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Preservation of bodies through mummification and providing goods for the afterlife were considered essential.

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. 

Chapel

Shaft

Tomb

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Built during the 3rd dynasty, Zoser’s architect, Imhotep, added steps above Zoser’s mastaba to create a step pyramid -- a stairway to the heavens.

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. 

Relieving Blocks Grand Gallery King’s Chamber

Queen’s Chamber Thieves Tunnel False Tomb Chamber

Entrance

Height 280 ft(146.64m) , now approximately 262ft (137.2m) Lengths of sides North 439.67(230.25m) ,

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

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. 

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Interiors were richly decorated with paintings and low-relief carvings.

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Entrances were hidden to protect tomb treasures from grave-robbers. Over the millennia this has proven largely unsuccessful. Only Tutenkhamen’s tomb eluded them.

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Though mummies and treasures might be concealed, more conspicuous temple structures were still required -- like Hatshepsut’s temple near the Theban Necropolis.

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These were built in the same forms as palaces, with three increasingly restricted areas. Hypostile Hall

Entrance

Second Pylon First Pylon

Sacred Area including Chapels

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. 

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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.

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Great Pylons marked entrances.

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The most public area was a large courtyard, surrounded by a post and lintel colonnade.

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The Second Area was the great hypostyle hall, with its dense forest of columns.

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Columns & Capitals in Hypostyle Hall

Light & shadow were important features.  Light came through: 

› Wall openings › gaps between

columns › clerestory windows

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. 

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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.