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EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
3200 B.C. – 30 B.C.

INFLUENCES
Geographical Materials used are:
- Known as the Land of Pharaoh and Desert 1. Stone – abundant building material
Land. The Nile River is their means of exception temples and pyramids –
communication, highway, and lifeline. soft stone – limestone, sandstone,
Egypt’s greatest wealth was its fertile soil. alabaster; hardstone – granite,
quartzite, basalt, porphyry
- Nile River is the life of Egypt they used it 2. Sand Dried bricks – made up of clay
for irrigation to turn desert lands into fruitful and chopped stone for pyramids
fields. Its gentle current was favorable for and temples
navigation. The trade and commerce 3. Date palm – for roofings
prospered along its banks.
4. Palm leaves – roofing materials
Geological 5. Acacia – for their boats
Narrow stretch of fertile and arable land 6. Sycamore – mummy cases
along the Nile river. Beyond river banks,
barren desert and rugged cliffs
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INFLUENCES

Climatic Pharaohs:
- Spring & summer - gods dwelling on earth
- sole masters or the country and its
- Structures have no downspout, drainage, inhabitants
gutter due to absence of rain. No windows
to cut heat penetration and sandstorm. - builders and leaders
- initiated the design, financing,
Historical quarrying and transporting of
materials, organization of labor and
- 3200 BC to 1 AD construction itself
- one of the most ancient - 30 dynasties started from third
millennium BC to Roman Period.
- unified under a centralized omnipotent Egypt was part of Persian Empire for 2
centuries, before the invasion of
authority of the pharaoh (king) Alexander the Great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ByLv9
49-8

INFLUENCES
1. Ancient Kingdoms – 1st – 10th Dynasty – - Thotmes IV – the one responsible for
development of 2 types of tombs: Mastaba the cleaning away of sand from the
and pyramid Sphinx
2. Middle Kingdom – 11th – 17th Dynasty – - Amenophis III – erected the Colossi of
important personalities: Mentuhetep II – Memnon, one of the wonders of the
world.
developed the 3rd of the tomb rock-cut tomb;
Senusrets – erected the earliest known - Rameses I – began the construction of
the Great Hypostyle Hall at Kharnak
obelisk at Heliopolis; Amenemhat I –
founded Great Temple of Ammon Kharnak, - Rameses II – finished the construction
grandest of all temples of the Hypostyle Hall and erection of
the Rock Temple at Abu-Simbel and
3. New Empire (18th – 30th Dynasty) Remission, Thebes
4. The Ptolemaic Period
- Thotmes I – began the additions to the temple
of Ammon, Kharnak - Ptolemy II – built the Pharaoh or the
Light House
- Hatshepsut – queen of Egypt, famous for her
funerary temple at Mt. Der-El-Bahari
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INFLUENCES
Society: Religion
- Monarchy – form of government - cult of many gods representing nature: sun, moon,
stars, animals
- architects, engineers, theologians, masons,
sculptors, painters, laborers, peasants, - gods needed a presence and dwelling on earth to
be effective
prisoners
- Egyptians wished for a fine burial, embalmment
- weaving, glass-making, pottery, metal, jewelry and funeral rites, and a permanent tomb or "eternal
and furniture dwelling“
- afterlife - life and house on earth is temporary, the
- astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and tomb is permanent
music - Pyramids were built because of belief in the afterlife
and for the preservation of the dead body. Pharaoh
- agriculture, writing and construction is not only king but also god both political and
religious ruler, when he dies he becomes Osiris, god
- literature and history written on papyrus and of dead. They’re monotheistic in theory and
stone tablets polytheistic in practice – Mummification & temple of
gods

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 monumentality  Characterized by the axial planning Materials
of massive masonry tombs and
 immortality temples, the use of trabeated stone:
construction with precise  abundant in variety and quantity
 symmetry in plan stonework, and the decoration of
battered walls with pictographic  for monuments and religious buildings
 simplicity
carvings in a relief.  durability of stone is why monuments still exist to this day
 solidity
 Preoccupation with eternity and the  softstone: limestone, sandstone, alabaster
 grandeur afterlife dominated the building of
these funerary monuments and  hardstone: granite, quartite, basalt
 permanence temples imported metals and timber mud bricks: for houses, palaces
indigenous date palm logs, leaves, reeds, rushes
 for sustenance and eternal enjoyment of the
deceased Ancient Egyptians didn’t use mortar, so the stones were
carefully cut to fit together
 traditional, mysterious, unchangeable Features of Egyptian Architecture:
Construction System Batterwall – inclination from base to top of the façade
- columnar and trabeated (seen in pyramids, tombs, Hieroglyphics – use as ornaments, pictures and writings
temples) from the walls
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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Columns Roof and Ceiling:
Types of columns:  roof was not an important consideration
 Square pillar  flat roofs sufficed to cover and exclude
heat
 Polygonal column Wall:
 Palm-type column  batter wall - diminishing in width towards
the top
 Bud-and-bell column
 for stability
 Foliated capital column
 thickness: 9 to 24m at temples
 Hator-headed column
 unbroken massive walls, uninterrupted
Osiris pillar space for hieroglyphics
Capitals: Openings:

 Lotus, papyrus, palm

 no windows
 skylights, roof slits, clerestories
 Bundle of steams-shaft

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Decorations:
 cornice and mouldings: "gorge"
or "hollow and roll" was inspired
by reeds
 torus mouldings
 hieroglyphics: pictorial
representation of religion,
history and daily life
 derived from the practice of
scratching pictures on mud-
plaster walls
 avenue of sphinxes: rows of
monsters (body of lion, head of
man, hawk, ram)
 leading to monuments
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ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Some ornaments:
 quadruple spiral
 continuous coil spiral
 lotus and papyrus
 rope and paterae ornament
 grape ornament
 rope and feather ornament
ornaments painted on walls:
 solar disc and vulture with spread wings Orientation:
sides face cardinal points
 scarab, symbol of resurrection
theological concepts
 papyrus, lotus and palm symbolizing fertility determined site location, lay-
 grapes symbolize eternity out, materials
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EXAMPLES
Mastabas
 first type of Egyptian
tomb
 from small and
inconspicuous to huge
an imposing
 rectangular flat-topped
funerary mound, with
battered side, covering
a burial chamber
below ground
2 doors:
 one for ritual
 second false door for
spirits

EXAMPLES

Mastaba at Zoser Funerary Mastaba at Giza

Mastaba of Thi-Sakkara
Complex, Saqqara - 4th dynasty
Mastaba of Aha-Sakkara
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EXAMPLES
Pyramids
massive funerary structure of stone or brick
square plan and four sloping triangular sides
meeting at the apex
types:
Step

Bend
Slope

EXAMPLES

Pyramid Complexes
buildings:
 offering chapel (north or east side)
 mortuary chapel
 raised and enclosed causeway leading to west
 valley building for embalmment and internment rites
 immense use of labor and materials
 built in layers, like steps
 filled with packing blocks, finished with finer limestone
 2.5 ton blocks hauled up by use of ramps Tomb Complex of Zoser at Saqqara
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EXAMPLES

Step Pyramid of Zoser, Saqqara

 world's first large-scale monument in stone
 changed no less than 5 times
 invented by Imhotep
 was the form of royal tomb for 3rd dynasty

EXAMPLES
Bent pyramid, Rhomboid pyramid
- an Egyptian pyramid-type in which each triangular planar surface changes
direction as it approaches the top, as in a mansard roof; sometimes also called a
blunt or false pyramid

Bent Pyramid at Sneferu

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EXAMPLES
Pyramids at Gizeh
 finest true pyramids
 built 4th dynasty
 equilateral sides face cardinal points
Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)
 230.6 m side, 146.4 m high
 13 acres footprint
Pyramid of Chephren (Khafra or Khafre)
 216 m side, 143 m high
Pyramid of Mykerinos (Menkaura)
 smallest of the three
 109 m side, 66.5 m high

EXAMPLES
Rock-cut or Rock Hewn Tombs
 built along hillside
 for nobility, not royalty

Tombs of the Kings, Thebes

Tombs at Beni Hasan
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EXAMPLES

Pylons
 monumental gateway to the temple
consisting of slanting walls flanking
the entrance portal

Temple of Isis, Philae

EXAMPLES
Temples
- where only kings can penetrate
2 types of temple:
MORTUARY TEMPLES
 worship/ in honor of pharaohs
 developed from the offering chapels of mastabas
CULT TEMPLES
- worship/ in honor of god
Parts:
 entrance pylon
 large outer court open to sky (hypaethral court)
 hypostyle hall
 sanctuary surrounded by passages
 chapels/chambers used in connection with the temple service
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EXAMPLES

Great Temple of
Ammon, Karnak,
Thebes

EXAMPLES
Temple of Khons
 typical temple: pylons, court, hypostyle hall,
sanctuary, chapels all enclosed by high girdle
wall
 avenue of sphinxes and obelisks fronting pylons

Mammisi
Temple
- prototype
of Greek
temple
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EXAMPLES

Temple of Ammon, Luxor

https://www.sharm-club.com/egypt/temples/luxor-temple

EXAMPLES

Great Temple of Abu-Simbel

 example of rock-cut temple
 by Rameses II
 entrance forecourt leads to imposing pylon 36
m wide and 32 m high
 4 rock-cut collosal statues of Rameses sitting
over 20 m high
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EXAMPLES

Temple of Hatshepsut,
Deir el-Bahri

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_A8B_MdAdY

EXAMPLES

Obelisks
 upright stone square in plan, with an electrum-
capped pyramidion on top
 sacred symbol of sun-god Heliopolis
 usually came in pairs fronting temple
entrances
 height of nine or ten times the diameter at the
base
 four sides feature hieroglyphics
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EXAMPLES

Dwellings Fortresses
made of crude brick  mostly found on west bank of Nile or
on islands
one or two storey high
 close communications with other
flat or vaulted ceilings fortresses
roof deck with parapet and loggia (gallery behind
open arcade or colonnade)  headquarters & largest fortress

columns, beams, doors, windows made of timber  main wall: 4.8 m thick and 11 m high
central hall or living room with high ceiling and  projecting rectangular towers for
clerestory reinforcement
3 parts: reception suite on north side, service
quarters and private quarters

EXAMPLES

Fortress of Buhen