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The Third Pylon |
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The Third Pylon, north tower.
The scene depicts the great sacred barge of Amen-Re. |
The Third Pylon was built a few decades before the Hypostyle Hall in the reign of Amenhotep III (ca. 1390-1352 BCE). Although Amenhotep III may have built the Third Pylon earlier in his reign, he did not inscribe it until the last decade of his reign during preparations for his first Heb-Sed festival, the pharaonic jubilee celebrated after 30 years on the throne. The Pylon is most famous for what was inside it, not what Amenhotep carved on its walls. When it was restored in the early 1900s, several hundred blocks from earlier buildings were discovered inside. Enough was found to reconstruct a number of smaller monuments, including the lovely "white chapel" of the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senwosret I (ca. 1965-1920 BCE) and the "red chapel" of Queen Hatshepsut (ca. 1472-1458 BCE) which has just been rebuilt. These and other "stuffing" from the Third Pylon make up most of the Open Air Museum today. |