Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/448

 58 A History of Art in AnciExXT Egypt. Fig. 212. — General plan of the Great Temple at Karnak. chambers to which they gave access. From the point where the wall be- comes double, that is from the posterior wall of the hypostyle hall, there are no more external openings of any kind. To reach the presence of the deity the doors of the fourth and fifth pylons had to be passed. The high and thick wall, without opening of any kind, which in- closed the sanctuary and its dependencies like a cuirass, was no doubt in- tended to avert the possi- bility of clandestine visits to the holy place. The evident desire of the architect to hide his porticos and saloons be- hind an inpenetrable cur- tain of limestone or sand- stone suffices to prove that shadow rather than sun- shine was wanted in the inner parts of the ternple. When the slabs which formed the roofs of the temple of Khons were all in place — they are now mostly on the ground — it must have been very dark indeed. The hypostyle hall communicated directly and by an ample doorway with the open courtyard, wdiich was bathed in the