Article October 26, 1899 Issue

Ancient Egypt's Greatest Monument

Begun Before the Time of Abraham, it was Building for Two Thousand Years.

Boston Evening Transcript

The Temple of Karnak, work for the restoration of which has been going on for a number of years under the direction of American, English, and French archaeologists, is perhaps the most interesting ruin in Egypt, though less known to the tourist than the Pyramids and the Sphinx. It was and is the most enormous structure in the world. Its ruins to-day cover many acres. The nucleus of the temple alone is over twelve hundred feet in length. All the great rulers of Egypt from the time of the Middle Empire, over 2000 B.C., until after the Roman occupation, added to the work from time to time during a period, therefore, of over two thousand years.

The temple was approached by three long avenues of sphinxes. One of these extended all the way from the temple of Luxor, on the south, a half-hour's ride on a donkey, the whole way being lined on either hand with hundreds of sphinxes hewn from stone. Seven large temples surrounded the main temple. The last is the sanctuary of Ammon, the "Throne of the Two Lands." It is the greatest architectural construction ever built. You approach it from either end through a gigantic outer gateway. Six mighty pylons, or tower gates, extend in succession across the shorter dimension of the building. The largest of these tower gates is 372 feet wide, 50 feet thick, and 140 feet high. Between the first two of these pylons are the remains of the great court. It is so large that two considerable temples are built within it.

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