History of Egyptian architecture. Architecture of the country of the pharaohs

The architecture of Ancient Egypt still raises many questions in terms of its creation and construction. So what was unique about the architectural features of the Egyptians?

Early Egyptian architecture

The history of the development of the architecture of Ancient Egypt has a certain structure.
The following periods of architecture of Ancient Egypt are known:

Early kingdom;
ancient kingdom;
Middle Kingdom;
New kingdom;
Later kingdom.

Architectural monuments of the early kingdom have not survived to this day. In those years, the Egyptians used bricks in construction, made from clay and river silt, which do not stand the test of millennia.

During the years of the Early Kingdom, the construction of chapels and mastabas was widely developed.

Mastaba is a tomb of noble people in the form of a truncated pyramid with internal passages and halls. In the prayer chamber there was a statue, which, according to religion, was inhabited by the soul of the deceased.

During the Early Kingdom in Egypt, concave cornices and ornamental friezes begin to be used in architecture.

Age of the Pyramids

It is the period of the ancient kingdom that is the embodiment of Egyptian mythology and its inherent culture. For the first time, the idea to build a pyramid instead of a mastaba arose during the reign of Pharaoh Djoser. The architect Imhotep built a stepped pyramid measuring 121x109 meters and 62.5 meters high.

Its distinguishing feature is a deep vertical shaft, covered with a dome from above. According to one version, this mine leads to a city built underground.

The pyramids of Giza are widely known. The highest of them - the pyramid of Cheops - is 140 meters high.

Rice. 2. Pyramid of Cheops.

Its main mystery lies in the fact that it is not mentioned in the Egyptian papyri, but Herodotus has it. The pyramid has three tombs and many chambers and corridors.

During the Old Kingdom, the construction of solar temples unfolds. Each of them looked like a building on a hill, surrounded by a wall, and an obelisk was installed in the center of the temple. The most famous temple of the sun is the Temple of Nissusera.

Rice. 3. Temple of Nissuser.

In the era of the Middle Kingdom, the dominance of individualism is observed. Every Egyptian cared about their afterlife, which led to the construction of the small pyramids. During their construction, the emphasis was on the arrangement of the internal space.

Infrastructure is developing in cities. For example, in the founded city of Kahun, wide roads were made and a drain was laid.

It is worth noting the uniqueness of the Egyptian wall painting with hieroglyphs and various drawings.

Architecture of the New and Late Kingdoms

In the 16th century BC. the cult of the god Amon grows. In honor of him, the rectangular Luxor and Karnak temples are being built. Both buildings were connected by an alley, which became the hallmark of the period.

Important: Another building was the Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri, which was carved into the rock and presented in the form of three steps connected by ramp stairs. Its attraction lies in the use of many columns and reliefs dedicated to the life of the queen.

In the Late Kingdom, such elements as hypostyles, pylons are gaining popularity. Emphasis was placed on the processing of decor.
After the invasion of the army of Alexander the Great in Egypt, a synthesis of two cultures begins to be observed.

What have we learned?

If we talk briefly about the architecture of Ancient Egypt, it is worth noting that 4 main features stand out in it - monumentality, rhythm, geometricity and strict symmetry. It was the greatest culture of antiquity.

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Architecture of Ancient Egypt

At a time when other peoples were still at the stage of prehistoric development, the Egyptians already possessed a high and developed art. The history of architecture begins in Egypt. It is impossible to establish exact archaeological dates: in the present state of our knowledge, it is necessary to classify the monuments in the order of their contemporary dynasties.

Thus, the architecture of Ancient Egypt can be divided into 5 periods: the architecture of the Early Kingdom, the architecture of the Old Kingdom, the architecture of the Middle Kingdom, the architecture of the New Kingdom, the architecture of the Late Kingdom.

Characteristics of the architecture of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt, which laid the foundation for architecture, was a country devoid of building timber. The tree was also scarce, as in other oases of the African desert, the main vegetation was palm trees, giving poor quality wood, and reeds. All this largely determined that the main building materials were raw brick and stone, mainly limestone mined in the Nile Valley, as well as sandstone and granite. Stone was used mainly for tombs and burials, while brick was used to build palaces, fortresses, buildings in the vicinity of temples and cities, as well as auxiliary structures for temples.

Ancient Egyptian houses were built from mud mined in the Nile. It was left in the sun to dry and become suitable for construction.

Many Egyptian cities have not survived to this day, as they were located in the flood zone of the Nile, the level of which rose every millennium, as a result, many cities were flooded, or the mud used for construction became fertilizer for peasant fields. New cities were built on the site of old ones, so the ancient settlements were not preserved. However, the arid climate of Ancient Egypt preserved some structures made of raw brick - the village of Deir el-Medina, Kahun, a city that reached its peak in the Middle Kingdom (modern El-Lahun), fortifications in Buhen and Mirgiss. But the fact that many temples and structures have survived to this day is a consequence of the fact that they were at a height unattainable for the Nile floods and were built of stone.

The main understanding of ancient Egyptian architecture is based on the study of religious monuments, the buildings that are best preserved. Judging by some of the surviving columns of the temple at Karnak, the Egyptians, before laying the stone, turned over only the beds and vertical seams; the front surface of the stones was hewn at the end of the construction of the building. This technique was later used by the Greeks. The stones were laid without mortar and without any artificial connections. In the Theban era, metal fasteners, apparently, were not used at all, and only occasionally were wooden brackets in the form of a dovetail used to connect stones together (Medinet Abu, Abydos) or to fasten cracked monoliths (Luxor obelisk)

The outer and inner walls, as well as the columns and piers, were covered with hieroglyphic and illustrated frescoes and carvings painted in different colors. The motifs of the decorations of Egyptian buildings are symbolic, for example, a scarab, a sacred beetle, or a sun disk, symbolizing the sun god Ra. Palm leaves, papyrus thickets, lotus flowers are also common. Hieroglyphs were used not only for decorative purposes, but also to preserve historical events, the wars that were fought, the gods that were worshiped, the life of the ancient Egyptians, the life and death of the pharaohs who ruled the ancient state.

Architecture of the Early Kingdom

Monuments of monumental architecture practically did not survive, since the main building material in those days was easily destroyed raw brick. Clay, reed and wood were also used, and the combination of brick cladding and wooden beamed ceilings and decor is an important feature that makes it possible to attribute the work to the sphere of art of the Early Kingdom. The stone was used only as a finishing material. This era includes the type of palace facades - "serekh", the images of which are found on the steles of the pharaohs of the 1st dynasty. The features of these structures were often repeated in the forms of royal sarcophagi. Religious and memorial buildings are better preserved than palaces: these are, first of all, sanctuaries, chapels and mastabas. The decoration of the sanctuaries still retains a connection with the era of wooden architecture, in which the ornamental motif of reed wickerwork was used.

In the period of the Early Kingdom, such design techniques as concave cornices, ornamental friezes (picturesque or sculptural) and the design of a doorway with a deep ledge also developed.

Many of the traditions of temple architecture were also reflected in the style of memorial structures, which were very important for ancient Egyptian culture in connection with the decisive role of the funeral cult in it. Burials of the I-II dynasties are concentrated in the area of Memphis and Abydos, which became the centers of the funeral cult. Associated with it, on the one hand, is the widespread development of mastabas tombs, the most characteristic buildings in the architecture of Ancient Egypt. On the other hand, it is in connection with the development of the mastabas that the enrichment and refinement of the content of the cult takes place.

Architecture of the Old Kingdom

Approximately in the 30th century BC. e. Pharaoh I dynasty Narmer, or Menes, were united into a single state of Northern and Southern Egypt with its capital in Memphis.

The creation of a powerful centralized state under the rule of the pharaoh, who is considered the son of the god Ra, dictated the main type of architectural structure - the tomb, which conveys the idea of his divinity by external means. Egypt reaches its highest rise under the rulers of the III and IV dynasties. The largest royal tombs-pyramids are being created, on the constructions of which not only slaves, but also peasants worked for decades. This historical period is often called the "time of the pyramids", and its legendary monuments would not have been created without the brilliant development of the exact sciences and crafts in Egypt.

One of the early monuments of monumental stone architecture is the ensemble of burial structures of the pharaoh of the III dynasty Djoser. It was erected under the guidance of the Egyptian architect Imhotep and reflected the idea of the pharaoh himself (however, this idea underwent significant changes several times). Abandoning the traditional form of mastaba, Imhotep settled on a pyramid with a rectangular base, consisting of six steps. The entrance was on the north side; underground corridors and a shaft were carved under the base, at the bottom of which there was a burial chamber. Djoser's mortuary complex also included the southern cenotaph tomb with an adjoining chapel and a court for the heb-sed rite (the ritual revival of the pharaoh's life force while running).

Step pyramids were erected by other pharaohs of the III dynasty (pyramids in Medum and Dahshur); one of them has diamond-shaped contours.

Pyramids at Giza

The idea of a pyramid tomb found its perfect expression in the tombs built in Giza for the pharaohs of the IV dynasty - Cheops (Khufu), Khafre (Khafre) and Mykerin (Menkaur), who in ancient times were considered one of the wonders of the world. The largest of them was created by the architect Hemiun for the pharaoh Cheops. A temple was erected at each pyramid, the entrance to which was located on the banks of the Nile and was connected to the temple by a long covered corridor. Mastabas were arranged in rows around the pyramids. The Pyramid of Mykerin remained unfinished and was completed by the son of the pharaoh not from stone blocks, but from brick.

In the burial ensembles of the V-VI dynasties, the main role passes to temples, which are finished with more luxury.

Towards the end of the Old Kingdom period, a new type of building appears - the solar temple. It was built on a hill and surrounded by a wall. In the center of a spacious courtyard with chapels, a colossal stone obelisk with a gilded copper top and a huge altar at the foot was placed. The obelisk symbolized the sacred stone Ben-Ben, on which, according to legend, the sun rose, born from the abyss. Like the pyramids, the solar temple was connected by covered passages to the gates in the valley. Among the most famous solar temples is the temple of Niusirra at Abydos.

Architecture of the Middle Kingdom

The individualism of the Egyptians manifested itself primarily in the fact that everyone began to take care of their own immortality. Now not only the pharaoh and the noble nobility, but also mere mortals began to claim privileges in the other world. This is how the idea of equality after death arose, which immediately reflected on the technical side of the cult of the dead. He simplified a lot. Mastaba-type tombs have become an unnecessary luxury. To ensure eternal life, one stele was already enough - a stone slab on which magical texts were written and everything that the deceased needed in the afterlife.

However, the pharaohs continued to build tombs in the form of pyramids, wanting to emphasize the legitimacy of possession of the throne. True, these were no longer the same pyramids that were erected in the era of the Old Kingdom: their size was significantly reduced, not two-ton blocks, but raw brick served as the material for construction, and the method of laying also changed. The basis was made up of eight capital stone walls, diverging in radii from the center of the pyramid to its corners and the middle of each side. Other eight walls departed from these walls at an angle of 45 degrees, and the gaps between them were filled with fragments of stone, sand, brick. From above, the pyramids were lined with limestone slabs, connected to each other by wooden fasteners. Just as in the Old Kingdom, the upper mortuary temple adjoined the eastern side of the pyramid, from which there was a covered passage to the temple in the valley. Currently, these pyramids are piles of ruins.

Along with the pyramids, which essentially copied the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, a new type of burial structures appeared, combining the traditional form of a pyramid and a rock tomb. The most significant of these monuments was the tomb of King Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahri. A stone-walled road 1200 meters long and 32 meters wide led to it from the valley. The main part of the tomb was a mortuary temple, decorated with a portico; in the center, a ramp led to the second terrace, where the second portico surrounded on three sides a columned hall, in the center of which stood a pyramid made of stone blocks. Its foundation was a natural rock. On the western side there was an open courtyard, decorated with porticos, with exits to the hall of columns and a sanctuary carved into the rock. The tomb of the pharaoh was located under the pillared hall.

The mortuary complex of Pharaoh Amenemhat III in Hawara is also a significant building of the Middle Kingdom. The pyramid is made of brick and lined with limestone, the burial chamber is carved from a single block of polished yellow quartzite. Particularly famous was the mortuary temple at the pyramid. This temple entered the history of culture under the name labyrinth. The temple occupied an area of 72,000 square meters and was divided by two rows of columns into three naves, of which the central one was higher than the side ones and was illuminated through window openings in the upper part of the walls.

The labyrinth is considered the most outstanding of the many multi-columned temples built during the Middle Kingdom. Its columns were stylized as plant forms, which corresponded to the symbolism of the temple as the home of the deity - the sun, which, according to one of the Egyptian legends, was born from a lotus flower. Most often, the columns imitated a bunch of papyrus stems, there were also columns with vegetable capitals depicting a papyrus or lotus flower. All columns were richly decorated with colored ornaments and gilding. Between the capital and the heavy ceiling, the Egyptians placed a much smaller abacus slab, invisible from below, as a result of which it seemed that the ceiling, painted under the starry sky with golden stars, was floating in the air.

Along with the columns traditional for Egyptian architecture, a new form of column appeared with a fluted shaft and a trapezoidal capital. Some researchers consider them to be the prototype of the Doric order, but these rather vague coincidences may turn out to be accidental.

New Kingdom architecture

Thebes begins to play a leading role in the architecture and art of the New Kingdom. In a short time, magnificent palaces and houses, magnificent temples were built in them, which transformed the view of Thebes. The glory of the city has been preserved for many centuries.

The construction of temples was carried out in three main directions: ground, rocky and semi-rocky temple complexes were erected.

Luxork Temple Gate

ground temples they were a rectangle retracted in plan, surrounded by a high massive wall, to the gates of which a wide road led from the Nile, decorated on both sides with statues of sphinxes. The entrance to the temple was decorated with a pylon, from the inside of which two stairs led to the upper platform. Tall wooden masts with flags were attached to the outer side of the pylon, and giant statues of the pharaoh and gilded obelisks were erected in front of them. The entrance led into an open, colonnaded courtyard, ending in a portico built slightly above the level of the courtyard. In the center of the courtyard was a sacrificial stone. Behind the portico there was a hypostyle, and behind it, in the depths of the temple - a chapel consisting of several rooms: in the central one on the sacrificial stone there was a sacred boat with a statue of the main god, in the other two - statues of the goddess-wife and statues of the god-son. Around the chapel, a bypass corridor stretched along the perimeter, from which doorways led to additional halls, the temple library, storage for statues, rooms for special rituals.

Both temples of Amun in Thebes - Karnak and Luxor belong to this type of temples.

Facade of the Temple of Ramses II

Rock temple complexes are an inverted "T". The facade of the temple was cut down in the outer part of the rock, all other rooms went deeper. An example of this type of temple is the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. The ensemble consists of two buildings: the Great Temple and the Small. The large one was dedicated to the pharaoh and three gods: Amun, Ra, and Ptah. Small was erected in honor of the goddess Hathor, whose image coincided with the image of the wife of Ramses II Nefertari.

A significant innovation in the architecture of the new kingdom was the separation of the tomb from the mortuary temple. The first pharaoh to break tradition was Thutmose I, who decided to bury his body not in the magnificent tomb of the mortuary temple, but in a tomb carved in a remote gorge, in the so-called "Valley of the Kings".

An example half-rock mortuary temple may serve as the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. She built her temple next to that of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II. Her temple surpassed the temple of Mentuhotep both in size and richness of decor. It was a combination of three cubes stacked on top of each other. The design of the facades was based on the alternation of the horizontals of the terraces with the verticals of the colonnades. In the lower tier there was a portico, which occupied the entire length of the eastern wall and was divided in the middle by a ramp. A staircase led to the second terrace, visually being a continuation of the ramp.

In imitation of the great kings, many of the rulers of the later period were building in Karnak (for example, the modern entrance to the Temple of Amun was erected under Pharaoh Sheshenq I; the colonnade of Pharaoh Taharqa has also been preserved). During the reign of Kush, brick tombs in the form of pyramids were built. The buildings as a whole remain oriented towards classical traditions.

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artistic culture. Primitiveness. Ancient world. - Kharkov, 1998.

Vinogradova N.A., Kaptereva T.P., Starodub T.Kh. Traditional art of the East: Terminological dictionary. - M., 1997.
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Municipal budgetary educational institution secondary school No. 64 of Cheboksary

on the topic: "Architecture of the country of the pharaohs"

Completed by: Maksimov A

Checked; Smirnova I.G.

Cheboksary 2015

Introduction

III. Architecture of the Middle Kingdom

IV. New Kingdom architecture

4.1 Ground temples

4.2 Rock temple complexes

V. Abu Simbel - the pearl of Egyptian architecture

VI. Architectural structures of the Late Kingdom

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

On the land of the country, which is now called the Arab Republic of Egypt, in ancient times one of the most powerful and mysterious civilizations arose, which for centuries and millennia attracted the attention of contemporaries like a magnet. In Egypt, all kinds of fine arts can be called born from architecture. The architecture of Egypt is the leading form of art, which largely determines the nature of plastics and painting. Sculpture and wall painting, obeying architecture, form a single and organic whole with it.

The land of Egypt has always attracted travelers with its incomparable monuments of art. Back in the 5th century BC. the Greek historian Herodotus (between 490/480 - about 425 BC) described the impressions of what he saw there, and the philosopher Plato (485/427 - 348/347 BC), who highly appreciated ancient Egyptian art, set him as an example to his compatriots. At a time when the era of the Stone Age and primitive hunters still dominated Europe and America, ancient Egyptian engineers built irrigation facilities along the Great Nile, ancient Egyptian mathematicians calculated the square of the base and the angle of inclination of the Great Pyramids, ancient Egyptian architects erected grandiose temples, the grandeur of which is not capable of reduce time. The ancient Egyptians created a high level, complex in structure, rich in content culture, which had a huge impact on the cultural development of not only many peoples of the Middle East, but also the ancient Greeks. Many cultural values created by the Egyptians have entered the treasury of world culture and have now become the property of all mankind.

Egyptian culture was created for about four millennia and went through a long and difficult path of its development. Egyptian culture is characterized by deep conservatism and traditionalism. The Egyptians avoided radical innovations in their system of cultural values. On the contrary, their main principle was the careful preservation and imitation of already known ideas, canons, artistic techniques.

The ancient Egyptians created a high level, complex in structure, rich in content culture, which had a huge impact on the cultural development of not only many peoples of the Middle East, but also the ancient Greeks. Many cultural values created by the Egyptians have entered the treasury of world culture and have now become the property of all mankind. Thus, the architecture of Ancient Egypt can be divided into 5 periods: the architecture of the Early Kingdom, the architecture of the Old Kingdom, the architecture of the Middle Kingdom, the architecture of the New Kingdom, the architecture of the Late Kingdom.

I. Architecture of the Old Kingdom

Approximately in the 30th century BC. e. Pharaoh I dynasty Narmer, or Menes, were united into a single state of Northern and Southern Egypt with its capital in Memphis.

The creation of a powerful centralized state under the rule of the pharaoh, who is considered the son of the god Ra, also dictated the main type of architectural structure - the tomb, which conveys the idea of its divinity by external means. The architecture of the country of the pharaohs flourished during the unification of southern and northern Egypt, when the country became centralized. At this time, it was necessary and important to emphasize the power of the pharaoh as the central figure in the whole country - god and king. For this, the construction of huge and majestic pyramids began.

The art of Egypt begins the countdown from the 4th millennium BC. (pre-dynastic period) and goes through the following stages of development: the Old Kingdom (XXXII-XXI centuries BC), the Middle Kingdom (XXI-XVI centuries BC), the New Kingdom (XI century - 332 BC). BC.). During this long period, majestic pyramids were created in Egypt, guarded by mysterious sphinxes, grandiose complexes spread out in the Nile valleys and carved into the rocks, numerous obelisks directed to the sky. Papyrus was invented here - the first material for writing, the foundations of geometry were laid, the volume of the hemisphere was measured for the first time and the area of the circle was found, the day was divided into 24 hours, the role of the circulatory system in the human body was established.

The stone architecture of Egypt, as evidenced by the monuments of ancient Egyptian civilization that have come down to us, served primarily the needs of religion. The development of architecture and art in ancient Egypt is most closely dependent on changes in the religious ideas of the Egyptians about the afterlife and about the burial rite of the deceased pharaoh and his nobles.

Cities had a strict layout. The streets intersect at right angles. In the center, a palace and a sanctuary, barracks and warehouses, houses of nobles were erected, on the outskirts of the house of artisans and the poor. Building material - reed coated with clay, brick made of silt with straw, stone for monumental structures. The character of the dwelling is a regular rectangular shape with long corridors, a number of small rooms and halls with internal columns.

The houses were oriented to the north and overlooked the garden. Residential buildings, including palace buildings, were built from light and short-lived materials, only the temples of the gods and tomb complexes were built of stone, they were made very durable, built to last for centuries.

Naturally, it was these stone structures that withstood the test of time and survived to this day, sometimes almost in their original form. These monuments of Ancient Egypt have preserved the features of ancient Egyptian architecture. The main building material for the pyramids of the ancient Egyptians was stone. In the quarries located in the cities on the borders of the Nile Valley, various types of stone were mined. The most famous was Aswan granite. In Aswan and today you can see an ancient quarry, at the bottom of which lies a stone obelisk, half carved into the rock. Equally famous was the Turkish limestone mined near Memphis. The facing plates of most pyramids are made from it. Used by ancient builders and sandstone. From hard rocks, they used porphyry and diorite. To create certain color schemes and combinations, stones of various colors and shades were specially selected. The Egyptians also used brickwork, but its share in relation to stone was insignificant. The tombs of the archaic period, the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom and some large residential buildings were built of brick. Due to the lack of combustible material and wood, the bricks were dried under the sun. There was not enough wood for construction work. From wood brought from other countries, only furniture and rich decoration of the apartments of the pharaoh and the highest nobility were made. But, despite this, the technique of working with wood had a great influence on the formation of the style of stone architecture of Ancient Egypt.

In archaic times, the dwellings of ordinary people and small sanctuaries were built from reed mats, doorways were also hung with mats, but of finer workmanship, and they were woven from grass and straw. Some forms of this reed construction were used later in stone architecture, for example, in Saqqara, in the Djoser pyramid complex, one can find half-columns resembling reed bundles in shape, one can also find rolled mats carved from stone. Later, the dwellings of commoners began to be built from clay. Egypt went its own unique original way, due to religious and mythological ideas, in particular, belief in the afterlife and the deification of the power of the pharaoh. In the pre-dynastic period, structures were common in Egypt, which were later called mastaba (translated from Arabic - a bench). special "houses after life" - scales - burial buildings, consisting of an underground burial chamber and a stone structure above the earth's surface

Mastaba (Arabic bench) - tombs in Ancient Egypt of the periods of the Early and Ancient Kingdoms, have the shape of a truncated pyramid with an underground burial chamber and several rooms inside, the walls of which were covered with reliefs and paintings. There could be several burial chambers, and some of them were covered with lowering slabs.

The construction is based on wooden or made of raw bricks, covered with household masonry and then with brickwork or hewn stone supports. Mastaba consists of two parts - ground and underground. In the underground part there is a burial chamber where the mummy is located. And in the ground there is a serdab - a chapel with a statue, into which, according to the Egyptians, the soul of the deceased could move if the mummy is spoiled. It was a rectangular, trapezoidal structure, tapering towards the top. Tribal leaders and priests were buried in them.

Even then, the main provisions for the location of this structure were formed. It was oriented to the cardinal points. It is connected with primitive beliefs.

People believed that just as the sun rises and sets, so does a person, if you put his face or head to the sunrise or to the west, then he will be able to resurrect. Then the burial premises also began to be oriented to the cardinal points.

The mastaba was a brick superstructure over a burial hidden under the surface. The superstructure was sometimes constructed from limestone slabs. From above, this rectangle was completely flat. Under this superstructure, underground, there was a burial chamber with a sarcophagus. A vertical shaft with a depth of three to thirty meters led into the chamber from above - the entrance. In the part of the superstructure facing east, in a very shallow pit, a "false door" was constructed - supposedly the entrance to the mastaba. In this niche there was a special flat altar, on which the relatives of the deceased placed offerings and before which they read prayers for the dead. This eternal home of the deceased could have various sizes, depending on the social status of the deceased. Sculptural portraits of the deceased were kept in a special room (serdaba). They were, as it were, substitutes for the mummy of the deceased in case it was destroyed or damaged. On the walls of the mastaba, various artistic images were usually applied; it was like the life of the deceased in drawings. Before burial, the body of the deceased was embalmed.

Features of religion formed a completely unique style of architecture. The Egyptians believed that man's earthly dwellings are temporary, and therefore it is not worth spending durable materials on them. But the temples of the gods and the tombs of the pharaohs were built of stone and luxuriously decorated, as they were built to last for centuries. The pyramids of the pharaohs are dwellings intended for the posthumous life of the rulers. The design and proportional ratios of all parts of the pyramids are based on the proportions of the golden section - the division of the segment into two unequal parts, of which the smaller one is related to the larger one as the larger one is to the sum of these parts. The forms and proportions of the pyramids are elaborate, clear and concise, they express the idea of greatness and power of the grandiose royal tombs.

II. Pyramids - "dwellings of eternity" of the pharaohs

The Old Kingdom period began with the 4th Dynasty in 2575 BC. It was at that time that belief in the afterlife became an essential part of the Egyptian religion. For the dead pharaohs and nobles, mastabas were built (tombs with a flat top and steep sides). One of the main tasks in the construction of the tombs of the pharaohs was the task of giving the impression of overwhelming power. But the increase in the above-ground part of the mastaba did not give the desired effect. This effect was obtained when they were able to increase the above-ground part of the building diagonally in height. This is how the famous Egyptian pyramids arose. The reasons for the construction of the pyramids are the religious idea of resurrection after death. (Home for Ka). Pharaoh stood out from all the others. His tomb must be different from the tombs of his subjects. Over time, stepped pyramids appeared, and even later - pyramids with smooth sides. Thousands of people worked on the construction of the pyramids for many years. Each stone had to be hewn, delivered to the construction site, and then dragged up a long inclined plane. The Old Kingdom is called the greatest period in the history of Egyptian civilization. It was at this time that the first civil and religious laws were established, hieroglyphic writing was born; in Giza, the construction of the famous pyramids of Cheops, Khafre and Menkaure began. In the 1st century BC, the pyramids were named one of the seven wonders of the world. And today they amaze with their greatness. The saying “Everything is afraid of time, but time is afraid of the pyramids” has not lost its meaning until now.

The ancient Egyptians studied the movement of the stars, the sun, and the planets. They believed that the souls of dead kings go to heaven, to the gods. The pyramids were built with the polar star pointing north, so that each of the four faces was exactly facing one of the cardinal directions: north, south, west and east. A temple was erected at the base of the pyramid, where the priests made sacrifices to the soul of the king. Small stone tombs were built around the pyramid for the relatives of the king and his courtiers. By order of the pharaoh, thousands of people worked for many years to build the pyramid. The first step was to level the construction site. Each building block was then cut by hand in the quarry and transported by boat to the construction site. 2.5 million stone blocks were used to build the largest pyramid.

Squads of workers hauled heavy stone blocks up with the help of ramps, rollers and skids. Some blocks weighed more than 15 tons. Modern Egyptologists suggest that the construction of the pyramids was carried out in several stages. Moreover, sometimes the size of the tomb in the process of creation increased several times in comparison with the original project. Pharaohs built their tomb for many years. Only earthworks and leveling the site for the future construction required at least ten. It is still not known exactly how the huge stone blocks got to the very top.

Pyramids and temples were connected by alleys.

Pyramids were only part of the ritual-burial complex. Next to each of them were two temples, one side by side, and the other much lower, so that its foot was washed by the waters of the Nile.

The internal structure of the pyramids implied the obligatory presence of a chamber where the sarcophagus with a mummy was located, and cut passages to this chamber. Sometimes religious texts were placed there. Thus, the interior of the pyramids in Saqqara, an Egyptian village 30 km from Cairo, contained the oldest works of funeral literature that have come down to us.

Soon, small states began to appear on the territory of Ancient Egypt, in which local kings began to rule. They wanted something to distinguish their burials from the burials of their subjects. The so-called step pyramids appeared.

The first of the Egyptian kings to erect a pyramid over his tomb was Pharaoh Djoser. This ancient Egyptian pyramid consists of six huge steps. It is 8 m lower than the pyramid of Cheops, but since it stands on a higher place, its top is at the same level. She is less broken. Excavations near the Pyramid of Djoser revealed a whole "city of the dead" that surrounded the tomb of the pharaoh. The ancient Egyptian architect put six mastabas on top of each other, that is, a smaller mastaba was placed on the larger mastaba, and so six mastabas were placed. The pharaoh could be pleased, his tomb was different from all other tombs. Then one of the Egyptian architects guessed to fill in the gaps between the mastaba in such a way that we got the pyramid already known to us. This form was also convenient because the construction did not require particularly difficult calculations to maintain the stability of the structure. Mastabas were built around - the tombs of members of the royal family and nobles close to the pharaoh. There was also a memorial temple where sacrifices were made in honor of the deceased pharaoh. During the excavations of the temple, archaeologists discovered a hall decorated with the oldest columns in the world. The top of the pyramid retained part of the polished facing.

Time has preserved for us some of the names of the builders and architects of the pyramids. IMHOTEP, (ancient Egyptian “one who is in contentment”), the supreme dignitary of Pharaoh Djoser (c. 1st half of the 28th century BC), builder of the first pyramid - the stepped tomb of Djoser in Saqqara. The architect of the pyramid, Imhotep, is one of the highest dignitaries of the pharaoh, a scientist, doctor, astronomer and magician. The name and titles of Imhotep are preserved on the statue of Djoser in the memorial temple at the pyramid of the pharaoh. The author of the first literary teaching in the history of Egypt - the so-called. "Teachings of Imhotep" (not preserved). In the Egyptian tradition, he enjoyed the glory of the greatest of the sages and sorcerers. He, a mortal, was honored on a par with a deity. Later deified as a patron of healing, honored in Memphis; in this capacity identified approx. ser. 1 thousand BC e. Greeks with the god Asclepius.

Of course, this pyramid is inferior in popularity and size to the pyramid of Cheops, but still the contribution of the very first stone pyramid to the culture of Egypt is difficult to overestimate.

During the period of the Third Dynasty, several smaller stepped pyramids were built. These ancient Egyptian pyramids are located in Middle and Upper Egypt, mostly only ruins remained of them.

Only under the first pharaoh of the fourth dynasty, Sneferu, did the pyramids of ancient Egypt acquire their final form. Sneferu's first step was to rebuild the pyramid at Meidum. The pyramid at Meidum was built for Pharaoh Huni, the last ruler of the 3rd dynasty. It is called the most unusual of all the Egyptian pyramids because of its non-standard shape. Initially, just like the pyramid of Djoser, it was stepped. Its height has already reached 94 meters - one and a half times more than the step pyramid in Saqqara.

It consisted of 7 steps, of which only 3 are visible today. It was built of limestone blocks. Sneferu expanded and enlarged the pyramid, added an 8th step and added horizontal masonry to the sides, transforming the monument into the first "true" pyramid.

This pyramid, upon completion of construction, was covered with beautiful cladding.

Later, natural or artificial destruction of the outer layers occurred, which led to the now characteristic shape of the pyramid.

Presumably, the original height of the Medum pyramid was even greater and reached 118 meters with a base of 144x144 meters.

The entrance to the pyramid is located in its lowest open layer, about 20 meters above the base. There was no sarcophagus in the chamber, only fragments of a wooden coffin were found, which in its style belonged to the era of the Old Kingdom. For a long time, the internal structure of the Medum Pyramid seemed to be the simplest of all known. Only one corridor in the pyramid was known, which began on the north side and steeply descended to about 7 meters below the base, where it widened into two horizontal "antechambers". The entrance to the burial chamber is located exactly under the top of the pyramid. This entrance, unlike all other pyramids, leads into the chamber not from the side and not from above, but from below, through a hole made in its floor.

The Pyramid at Meidum is an Egyptian pyramid located on the road to Faiyum, about 100 km south of Cairo. The form is non-standard. Consists of 7 steps, of which only 3 are visible today. Made of limestone blocks. It was built for Pharaoh Huni, the last ruler of the III dynasty. His son Sneferu expanded and enlarged the pyramid by adding an 8th step and making the sides of the pyramid smooth.

An important attraction of Egypt is Dahshur - the necropolis of the Egyptian pharaohs. The king among all the builders of the pyramids was Pharaoh Snefru, who founded the IV dynasty 4.5 thousand years ago. Dashur. In Dahshur, under Sneferu, a "broken pyramid" was built. This name comes from the fact that its walls at a height of about 45 meters change their slope by 10 degrees.

This is one of the most mysterious pyramids of Ancient Egypt. It is called southern because of its location in the south relative to others, "broken", "cut" or "rhomboid" for its irregular shape.

She, like all Egyptian pyramids, has an entrance located on the north side. This is provided by the religious beliefs of the Egyptians. However, there is something that distinguishes the Bent Pyramid from others - this is the second entrance. For some reason, it leads to the pyramid from the western side. The northern entrance was built much earlier than the western one, and the origin of the second entrance has not yet been unraveled. The second riddle of the pyramid is the absence of a sarcophagus in its inner chambers. After reading the inscriptions made in two places of the pyramid and on the stele in the inner part, it was established that it belonged to Pharaoh Snorf.

Bent Pyramid of Sneferu. Senefru, Se-nefer-ru - that's what the Ancient Egyptians called her. That is how we know her. But the history of her name (which in ancient Egyptian means "double harmony") and her original purpose is shrouded in mystery for millennia. In the meantime, the most mysterious and impregnable pyramid of Egypt pleases the eye with its elegant and original forms, towering among the yellow sands of Dashur, either in the bright radiance of the Sun, or under the shadow of clouds, or in the morning fog, which is inherent in Egypt. This was a period of real boom in the construction of the pyramids. Pharaoh Snefru built not one, but three huge pyramids. For this, it was necessary to extract and bring about 100 thousand cubic meters of stone. Two of the three pyramids of Sneferu are located in Dahshur. The southern pyramid at Dahshur is called "broken", "cut" or "rhomboid" for its irregular shape. It differs from other pyramids of the Old Kingdom in that it has an entrance not only on the north side, which was the norm, but also a second entrance, which is open higher, on the west side. The northern entrance is located at a height of about 12 m above ground level, leading to a sloping corridor that descends underground into two rooms with ledges. From these two rooms, a passage leads through the shaft to another small chamber, which also has a ledge in the form of a roof. The entrances on the north side of the pyramid were made during the Old Kingdom. This was due to the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Why there was a need for a second, western, entrance here remains a mystery. In this pyramid, no trace of the presence of the sarcophagus, which would be located in these rooms, was found. Sneferu's name was written in red ink in two places in the "broken" pyramid. His own name was found on the stele, which stood inside the fence of the small pyramid. The stability of a pyramid depends on the angle of inclination of its faces. It seems that there were some problems with this pyramid - the slopes of the lower part turned out to be too steep and began to collapse. I had to change the angle for greater stability. This attempt was crowned with success - the "broken" pyramid has been standing here for several millennia. What can not be said about the pyramid located nearby - this is the last pyramid built in ancient Egypt. She became a real nightmare for the pharaohs. It was assumed that another pyramid would become the tomb of Sneferu - this is the first "real" pyramid in the world. Due to the reddish tint of the stones, it received its modern name - the "Red" Pyramid of Snefru (or the "Pink" Pyramid).

pink pyramid

The Pink Pyramid is the largest of the three pyramids that are located on the territory of the Dahshur necropolis, as well as the third highest in Egypt. It got its name because of the amazing color of the stone blocks, which turn pink when the sun sets. Previously, there was white limestone on the pyramid, but now it is missing, as a result of which the pink stone began to show through. The name of Pharaoh Snofre was found on the pyramid, which was written in red paint on several blocks, so it is believed that the pyramid was built during his reign. The pyramid is in its form a regular stereometric pyramid. The height of the pyramid reaches 104.4 meters. The Pink Pyramid is the largest of the three pyramids that are located on the territory of the Dahshur necropolis, as well as the third highest in Egypt. The height of the pyramid reaches 104.4 meters. At the time of completion, the Pink Pyramid became the tallest building in the world, but this record lasted only a few decades - until the construction of the Cheops pyramid. Just a kilometer away is the Bent Pyramid, also attributed to Pharaoh Sneferu, and it was planned to be higher than the Pink one. But for technical reasons, the angle of its faces had to be changed right during construction, and it turned out to be only 101 meters high. In the history of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Sneferu left a bright mark! He was the only one (not counting Amenemhat III, the pharaoh of the XII dynasty) who erected two pyramids at the same time - both almost twice the height of the pyramid of Djoser - the Broken and Pink in Dashur.

2.1 The most famous pyramids of the Giza plateau

Egyptian necropolises have always been located on the western bank of the Nile, on the border of irrigated lands and the dead Libyan desert. The pharaohs of the 4th dynasty chose a place for their burials near Saqqara in modern Giza. However, for the time being, the three pharaohs of the Old Kingdom who inherited the Egyptian throne from Sneferu are still better known: Khufu (Greek name Cheops), Khafre (Greek Chefren) and Menkaure (Greek - Mikerin), who are credited with the successive erection of the three most the largest pyramids in Egypt.

The construction of the pyramids, attributed to the IV dynasty, is striking in its scope. Three-quarters of all the materials used in Egypt to build the pyramids throughout history went to the construction of the pyramids of this dynasty, and this, by some estimates, is more than 20 million tons! The perfection of the three pyramids on the Giza plateau - especially the Great Pyramid - still amazes researchers. Striking is not only the size of the structures, but also the design parameters and the quality of construction. Three great classical pyramids of the pharaohs Cheops (Khufu), Khafre (Khafre) and Mykerin (Menkaur) were built there, built of giant limestone blocks, with an average weight of 2.5 tons and held by their own gravity. The most famous of the dozens of pyramids that have survived to this day, located between Cairo and Fayum in a strip about 60 km long, include pyramids built during the period of the Old Kingdom in the third millennium BC. e. in the necropolis in Giza, near Memphis, which is based on the three pyramids of the pharaohs Cheops (architect Hemiun, XXII century BC), Khafre and Mikerin (about 2900-2700 BC). The third of the pyramids of Giza, the Pyramid of Menkaure, is not at all one of the largest. The broken and pink pyramids at Dashur, the pyramid at Meidum is larger than it, but together with the other pyramids of Giza it gives the impression of being very large.

In addition, the ensemble included three small stepped pyramids, a number of mortuary temples associated with the pyramids, numerous mastabas, a colossal sphinx 20 m high, about 40 m long, and a number of other monuments and structures.

The Pyramid of Cheops is part of the complex of the largest Egyptian pyramids located on the Giza plateau. The height of the pyramid is 146 m. Each side is also 146 m. The stones are polished and carefully fitted, each of them is not less than 9.24. Scientists have calculated that the pyramid of Cheops was composed of 2,300,000 huge blocks of limestone, basalt and granite, smoothly polished, and each of these blocks weighed more than two tons. It was built on a natural hill, and about 100,000 people were simultaneously involved in the construction of the wonder of the world pyramid of Cheops. During the first ten years of work, a road was built, along which huge stone blocks were delivered to the river and underground structures of the pyramid. Work on the construction of the monument itself continued for about 20 years. Initially, the pyramid was lined with white limestone, harder than the main blocks. The carefully hewn and polished limestone blocks were so skillfully fitted one to the other that it was impossible to stick a knife blade into the gap between the two stones.

The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - a pyramidion. The cladding shone in the Sun with a peach color, as if “a shining miracle, to which the sun god Ra himself seemed to give all his rays.” The rani of the pyramids face the four cardinal directions, the entrance to the tomb is located on the northern side, at a height of 16 meters above the ground.

On the south side of the pyramid is a structure shaped like a ship. This is the so-called Solar Boat - one of the five on which Cheops was supposed to go to the other world. In 1954, a boat 43.6 m long, disassembled into 1224 parts, was discovered during excavations. It was built of cedar without a single nail and, as evidenced by traces of silt preserved on it, before the death of Cheops, it was still floating on the Nile. Boat dimensions: length - 43.3 m, width - 5.6 m, and draft - 1.50 m.

The entrance to the pyramid is at a height of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch. This entrance to the pyramid was sealed with a granite plug. Somewhere in the middle of one of the sides there was a stone, by moving which one could get through a long corridor into the sarcophagus - the "dwelling of eternity" of the pharaoh. The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Revival of Khufu (Cheops)". Inside the pyramid of Cheops there are three burial chambers located one above the other.

The pyramid itself required 20 years of work. She is square. The architect of the Great Pyramid is Hemiun, the vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all construction sites of the pharaoh."

The Great Pyramid was built of granite topped with limestone. The outer surface was smooth and non-separable, which gave the pyramid the appearance of a structure lowered from heaven. But the white facing stones have been plundered, and now the top, which lacks a central stone, can be reached by climbing the layers of stones, like steps.

The technology of building the pyramids is controversial in our time. Versions vary from the invention of concrete in ancient Egypt to the construction of pyramids by aliens. But still it is believed that the pyramids were built by man solely by his strength. So for the extraction of stone blocks, first a shape was outlined in the rock, grooves were hollowed out and a dry tree was inserted into them. Later, the tree was doused with water, it expanded, a crack formed in the rock, and the block was separated. Then it was processed to the desired shape with tools and sent along the river to the construction site. To lift the blocks up, the Egyptians used gentle embankments, along which these megaliths were dragged on wooden sledges. But even with such a backward technology by our standards, the quality of work is surprising - the blocks fit snugly against each other with minimal mismatches.

The purpose of the pyramids is twofold. On the one hand, they had to accept and hide the body of the deceased king, rid him of decay. On the other hand, to eternally glorify the power of the pharaoh and remind all future peoples of his existence. Anyone who approached these man-made mountains experienced a feeling of being overwhelmed by their power, aware of their own insignificance. This tomb became a model of a burial structure, in which, according to the canons, three main tasks were solved: keeping the ashes of the deceased incorrupt, preserving the tomb and feeding so that it could exist.

Pyramid of Herferen. The second pyramid of the complex belongs to the successor of Cheops - Pharaoh Khafre. It was built around 2600 BC. It took a long time to build such a structure, and the pharaohs began to do it, barely ascending the throne.

Most often, the pyramid was not completed during the life of the pharaoh, so they completed it after his death, and at that time they began to build a new one for the new pharaoh.

The Pyramid of Khafre (more precisely - Khafra) is the second largest ancient Egyptian pyramid. Located next to the Great Sphinx, as well as the pyramids of Cheops (Khufu) and Menkaure on the Giza Plateau. Khafre (or Khafra) himself is the son of Cheops, so their pyramids are located nearby. Although Khafre's pyramid is inferior in size to that of his father Khufu, its position on a higher hill and its steeper slope make it a worthy rival to the Great Pyramid.

Built presumably in the middle of the XXVI century BC. e. the building with a height of 143.5 m was called Urt-Khafra (“Khafra is great” or “Honored Khafra”). Its height was 143 meters, and the length of the side was 215 meters. Because of this ratio of height and length of the base, it seemed more slender. The base was faced with Aswan granite. Near the pyramid of Khafre, a hill rises from the sand of the desert. Its height is about 20 m, length is about 60 m. Approaching the hill, travelers see a huge statue carved almost entirely from the rock. This is the famous large sphinx - the figure of a lying lion with the human head of Khafre in the traditional royal scarf.

The Great Sphinx was erected simultaneously with the pyramid, for the pharaoh of the IV dynasty - Khafre (Khafre). The Sphinx is made in the form of a lying lion. His face reproduces the features of the pharaoh himself. In fact, the sphinx is an image of the sun god. To the side where the Sun appears, and the sphinx is looking.

A striped royal scarf is depicted on the head of the sphinx, above the forehead - uraeus - a sacred cobra. According to the beliefs of the Egyptians, the cobra protected kings and queens with its breath.

The face of the sphinx was previously painted brick, and the bands of the kerchief were blue and red.

It rises between two temples dedicated to the cult of this deity. When creating the sculpture, the Egyptian craftsmen used the original form of the limestone rock. Once upon a time, the Khafre pyramid had a companion pyramid, much smaller. But only small fragments of it have survived. She was needed "just in case", so that there was somewhere to put the pharaoh if he died prematurely. But the fears turned out to be in vain, Khafre lived a long life and they managed to build a tomb worthy of him. There were several hundred figures in the lower temple, but only a few of them have survived. It is known that the deceased was mummified in the lower temple. Each of the great pyramids also had a triune complex: the lower funerary temple - the road - the upper funerary temple. But this complex has been preserved in a more or less complete form only at the pyramid of Khafre. The stone-paved road from the lower temple, where embalming was carried out, to the upper one, where they said goodbye to the pharaoh before burial, stretched for more than half a kilometer. Near the lower granite temple, devoid of a roof, lie the ruins of the temple of the Sphinx. And behind them, the ancient guardian of the pyramids, the Great Sphinx, turned his gaze to the east. The Sphinx, a resting lion with a human head (Mamluk soldiers shot off its nose), is the largest monolithic sculpture. Its length is 73 meters, height - 20 meters. The temple is built from large blocks of granite. The temple stands near the pier, where the boats moored, sailing along the canal from the side of the Nile. Near the entrance, there were probably four sphinxes carved from granite, which guarded the temple.

Inside the pyramid, everything is much more modest than that of the main pyramid of Giza. A modest horizontal corridor leading to two medium-sized chambers. The burial chamber is located at the base of the structure, the rectangular sarcophagus is finished with polished granite, like many other elements of the pyramid inside and out. In the middle of the temple was placed something like a platform, where perhaps there was a statue of the pharaoh. Narrow corridors branched off from both entrances, leading to the hypos with sixteen monolithic granite pillars. In this hall, shaped like an inverted T, stood twenty-five statues of a seated pharaoh, made of alabaster, slate, and diorite. Each statue was lit separately through small holes in the ceiling. Two rather large chambers lead to a horizontal corridor, they are a rather modest space in relation to the pyramid of Khufu. The burial chamber located under the pyramid is no longer lined with granite, although this protective material was used in abundance inside the pyramid (the high passage itself, fences and sarcophagus), as well as outside (lining the foundation of the pyramid and temples). The roof of the chamber was provided by a vault on the rafters, regarded as more durable than the horizontal crossbars of Khufu's pyramid. The classically shaped rectangular sarcophagus of Khafre made of superbly polished granite was placed in the lining of the burial chamber. The canopic niche placed near Khafre's sarcophagus was an innovation that would become common at a later time.

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Pyramid of Khafre. 27th century BC.

architecture pyramid architecture kingdom

In the time of the pharaohs, the pyramid of Khafre was just an element of the mortuary complex, which included a small satellite pyramid, probably built for the wife of Khafre, an enclosure wall, a mortuary temple, a road, a temple in the valley and a port, which also had to be built. The current state of preservation of the complex allows us to say that all of its elements have been completed. The temples of Khafre, which became models for the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, were built from multi-ton blocks of granite and limestone. Stone blocks at the entrance to his mortuary temple reach a length of 5.45 m and weigh up to 42 tons. Taking into account the found fragments, the total number of sculptural works of the lower temple of Khafre has more than 200 statues.

Among them is the famous remarkably preserved statue of the king, made of dark green diorite. The ruler proudly sits on the throne with a smart scarf on his head and a uraeus on his forehead, and behind him flies the falcon-like god Horus. The pyramid was decorated with a pink granite pyramidion, which is now lost.

Now this pyramid is in good condition, although its size has decreased somewhat. pharaoh. The Pyramid of Khafre itself is in excellent condition. It has only slightly shrunk in size over time. Its edges are concave, like a lens. During the summer solstice, they warmed up a lot. Due to this, the pyramid emitted a roar that could be heard at a great distance. Each block of Khafre's pyramid weighs about 2 tons. They are made of limestone and it is impossible to stick even a hair between them.

Despite the fact that none of the ancient Egyptian pyramids retained a pyramidion at its top, almost all the stones of its fastening were preserved at the pyramid of Khafre, forming a small square platform with a square recess in plan: this feature makes this pyramid unique and allows us to know how fixing pyramidions on the tops of the pyramids.

The granite sarcophagus, together with the lid, has also been perfectly preserved; it is identical in design to the worse-preserved Cheops sarcophagus, just as the Cheops sarcophagus has several drilled holes along the shoulder and in the lid, apparently locking the sarcophagus with copper cylinders. In ancient Egypt, two types of images of royalty were developed. Seated and standing. The portrait of Pharaoh Khafre belongs to the second type. This type is characterized by the articulation of all parts of the figure at a right angle. Hands are usually folded on the hips or rest on the chest. The legs are parallel to the bare feet. The symmetry in this case is perfect. Monarchs are depicted with a naked torso, dressed in a pleated skirt and with a head covered with a double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt. The pharaoh is depicted with his head protected by the open wings of the god Horus, from whom he was believed to be descended.

The torso forms a single block with the throne, and the arms are pressed to the torso. This is one of the most original and strictly canonically developed areas of the art of Ancient Egypt. Sculpture was created and developed to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, pharaohs, kings and queens in physical form. Statues of gods and pharaohs were put on public display, as a rule, in open spaces and outside temples. There was a very strict canon for the creation of ancient Egyptian sculpture: the color of the body of a man had to be darker than the color of the body of a woman, the hands of a seated person had to be exclusively on their knees; there were certain rules for depicting the Egyptian gods. In the time of the pharaohs, the pyramid of Khafre was just an element of the mortuary complex, which included a small satellite pyramid, probably built for the wife of Khafre, an enclosure wall, a mortuary temple, a road, a temple in the valley and a port, which also had to be built.

Pyramid of Menkaure. The pyramid of Menkaure completes the ensemble of the great pyramids of Giza. Its construction was completed in 2505 BC. This pyramid is much smaller than its predecessors. The side of the base is 108 meters, the original height is 66.5 meters (today - 62 m), the angle of inclination is 51 o. The only burial chamber of the pyramid carved into its rocky base emphasizes the greatness of the pyramids of Cheops and Khafre. The latter are not difficult to distinguish from each other: at the pyramid of Khafre, near the top, a white basalt lining is partially preserved.

The son and heir of Khafre - Mikerin (Menkaur) - owns the third pyramid. The real name of this ruler is Menacroix. She is the smallest of them and barely reaches 66 m in height. The tomb itself and the structures around it were not completed during the life of the pharaoh. Subsequently, his son hastily finished them. It was the last of the great pyramids. Despite the small size of the pyramid (considered a sign of decline), according to eyewitnesses, the Pyramid of Menkaur was the most beautiful of all the pyramids. The Pyramid of Menkaure is located at a distance of 200 meters from the other two pyramids, and visually the difference in size is not so much felt. The cladding of the first 16 tiers of the pyramid was made of red granite from Aswan, the cladding of the middle of the structure was made of white limestone from Tura, and the top was also made of red granite. This pyramid shone with different colors and made an indelible impression on the ancient people. It is a pity that Menkaura himself did not see this spectacle. According to the results of excavations by archaeologists, it is already clear that he died before the end of construction. The potential of the builders of the pyramid of Menkaure was enormous, as evidenced by one of the monoliths used in the mortuary temple of Menkaure

The largest stone slab of the tomb, covering the burial room of the pharaoh, weighs more than 200 tons. Despite its relatively low height, the pyramid of Menkaure is an example of the use of amazing building technologies of the Egyptians, which amaze contemporaries to this day.

Another feature of the tomb is a complex internal structure. The pyramid has a peculiar vestibule, burial chambers, tunnels and special niches for burial utensils. To this day, a sarcophagus made of basalt has been preserved in the main burial chamber. Putting in place a block of this size, the heaviest on the Giza plateau, was a true technical feat. The colossal statue of the seated king from the central chapel of the temple - one of the largest in the era of the Old Kingdom - is an excellent proof of the skill of the pharaoh's sculptors. The works of sculpture during the reign of Menkaur were characterized by the highest quality of artistic performance. Her finest examples were the greywacke statues, among them a new type of sculptural group: the triads.

The meticulous workmanship brought into the construction of the royal pyramid, called Necheri-Menkaura ("Divine Menkaura"), is another indication of this commitment to quality workmanship.

About a third of its height, the pyramid was lined with red Aswan granite, then it was replaced by white slabs of Turkish limestone, and the top, in all likelihood, was also red granite. Such a pyramid remained for four millennia, until the Mamluks removed the lining at the beginning of the 16th century. The choice of granite for facing the pyramid, mainly a protective material, perhaps made it useless to build a huge pyramid to protect the royal mummy. From the point of view of architectonics, it was not necessary to build a very high pyramid, since the burial chamber was now located at ground level, and after Khufu the idea of a high-altitude location of the chambers was no longer embodied, probably due to technical difficulties in lifting the blocks of the burial chamber. It is surrounded by even smaller satellite pyramids, which serve as the burial place for the wife of the pharaoh, his children and close relatives.

The third of the pyramids of Giza, the Pyramid of Menkaure, is not at all one of the largest. The broken and pink pyramids at Dashur, the pyramid at Meidum is larger than it, but together with the other pyramids of Giza it gives the impression of being very large.

The Pyramid of Menkaure is a reflection of the end of this era, but, in particular, it also expresses the beginning of another era, during which the size of the pyramids gained a standard. The relative "miniatureness" of the Mycerinus pyramid, according to scientists, is explained by the fact that it was erected at the beginning of the "sunset" period of the ancient era of the great pyramids. After the construction of this tomb of the pharaoh, the Egyptians stopped building grandiose pyramids. Later tombs usually did not exceed 20 meters.

The pharaohs of the 5th and 6th dynasties continued to build pyramids, although such grandiose structures as the rulers of the 4th dynasty were no longer erected. These pyramids were half the size of the huge tombs of Cheops and Khafre. The quality of construction has become much worse. The layout of the Abusir pyramids was the same, the pyramid complex of Pharaoh Sakhur was best preserved. The dimensions of his pyramid were originally as follows: the length of the side of the base is 70 m, the height is 50 m. Now the height of the pyramid reaches only 36 m.

The last pharaoh of the 5th dynasty, Unis, again moved his tomb to Saqqara. His small pyramid (the length of the sides of the base is 67 m, the height is 44 m, today it is 57.5 and 19 m, respectively) Of all the pyramids of the kings of the 5th dynasty, the pyramid of Unis is the smallest. Apparently, the power of the pharaoh in his reign weakened.

On the eastern side of the pyramid, the remains of a mortuary temple have been preserved.

Now the pyramid of Unis is badly destroyed - the walls are weathered, the top is rounded, the base is littered with fallen blocks.

Its interior, despite the strong destruction of the pyramid, is in good condition and available for inspection. You can enter the pyramid through the corridor along which the deceased pharaoh was carried to the place of eternal rest, and not through the robbers' tunnel.

The Pyramid of Unis is considered a valuable monument of the Old Kingdom.

Before him, it was not considered necessary to perpetuate funeral spells inside the pyramid, Unis for the first time ordered to carve the entire set of spells inside the pyramid, designed to benefit and protect the king in the next world. Endless columns of inscriptions, made in the most beautiful green and blue hieroglyphs, cover the walls of the chamber and the "anteroom" from top to bottom, and the gable ceiling is dotted with green and blue stars.

The layout of the pyramid of Unas was repeated by the rest of the pyramids of the VI dynasty, but the quality of their construction is worse.

The last significant architectural monument of the Old Kingdom was the pyramid of Pharaoh Piopi II in the southern part of Saqqara. Its height is 52 m, the length of the rib is 78 m. The pyramid was built from not very large stone blocks. After the construction of the sixth step, it was faced with limestone slabs, the remains of which can be seen among the fragments of the upper layers that have collapsed and lie at the base. The underground chambers differ from the chambers of the pyramid of Unas only in their coloration. A large hole made by ancient robbers gapes in the ceiling, however, the wall texts and the sarcophagus are perfectly preserved.

During the "first transitional period" only one small pyramid was built. It was a pitiful imitation of the magnificent pyramids of the heyday of the Old Kingdom.

Pharaoh Ibi began the construction of this pyramid, but it remained unfinished. Its ruins are located near the pyramid complex of Pharaoh Piopi II. The Ibi pyramid had a base size of 31X31 m (now 21X21 m). Its height, as can be assumed, reached only 20 m. The sides of the pyramid were not oriented to the cardinal points. Traces of abbreviated "pyramid texts" were found in the burial chamber.

The founder of the 5th dynasty, pharaoh Userkaf, built himself a pyramid in Saqqara, next to the pyramid of Djoser, which in those days was a sacred place from time immemorial. His successors, the pharaohs Sahure, Neferirkare and Nauserre, built their pyramids closer to Giza, next to today's Abusir.

III. Middle Kingdom architecture

The kings of the XII dynasty of the Middle Kingdom continued the construction of the pyramids. They began to build them south of Saqqara, not far from today's Lisht, Dashur and the Faiyum oasis. The layout of the pyramid complex remained unchanged: the lower temple, the ascent road, the mortuary temple, the pyramid and the companion pyramids. However, the internal structure of the pyramid has become different. The entrance to the pyramid of Pharaoh Senusret II is located on the south side. The pharaoh broke the ancient tradition, his successors also ceased to follow the ancient custom of orienting to the north, towards the North Star.

The last great pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom, Amenemhat III, built two pyramids: one in Gavar, the second in Dashur. The first had a height of 58 m with a base side length of 101 m. The pyramid towered on the shore of Lake Merida, which was much fuller than now. Of interest is the burial chamber of the pharaoh. It was carved into the rock that served as the core of the pyramid.

The centuries separating the era of the Middle Kingdom from the time of the decline of the Old Kingdom meant a lot in the spiritual life of the Egyptians. The collapse of the country, wars, the decline of the center and the divine power of the pharaoh - all this created the ground for the development of individualism. In 2050 B.C. e. Mentuhotep I, the founder of the XI dynasty, reunited Egypt and restored the unified power of the pharaohs under the auspices of Thebes. He chose the city of Thebes in Upper Egypt as the capital of his state and immediately set about building a tomb on the west bank of the Nile, opposite his palace, located on the east bank of the river, on the site of today's Deir el-Bahri. During the construction of the tomb, the pharaoh combined the traditions of the ancient pyramid builders and the local customs of burial in the depths of the rock. In front of the mortuary temple there was a spacious courtyard, from the lower temple there was an ascent road flanked by walls. There was no top cover. After the courtyard, the road was lined with cypresses. In the depths rose a rocky terrace, on which stood the mortuary temple of the pharaoh, in turn composed of two stepped terraces surrounded by covered colonnades. The monumental architecture of the first half of the Middle Kingdom can be judged on the basis of the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep I in Deir el-Bahri. The large tomb of King Mentuhotep of the Eleventh Dynasty, Nebhepetra, was carved into the rock at Deir el-Bahri. It was built on the west bank of the Nile, not far from Thebes, at the foot of high cliffs. This unusual monument produced a striking architectural effect; it eloquently testifies to the talent of an unknown architect who planned it in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape. Undoubtedly, nature itself - the deserts and towering cliffs of Deir el-Bahri - influenced the plan. At the top of the western cliffs is a curious "natural pyramid", which in Arabic is called "el-Qarn" (horn). The ancient Egyptians called it the "Sacred Mountain" or "Peak of the West". She was dedicated to the goddess Meritseger - "She who loves silence."

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Architecture in Ancient Egypt

The climatic features of Egypt determined the main building materials with which residential buildings and monumental structures were built. The Egyptians used raw bricks from straw and mud to build housing, but stone was used to build temples and tombs. The history of the development of ancient Egyptian architecture is usually divided into six main periods:

Pre-dynastic period (before 3200 BC)
Early Kingdom (3200-2700 BC)
Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC)
Middle Kingdom (2200-1500 BC)
New Kingdom (1500-1100 BC)
Late period (1100-400 BC)

Architecture of the ancient kingdom of Egypt

The period of the Old Kingdom is particularly prominent in the history of ancient Egyptian architecture. It was from this time that the construction of the grandiose religious buildings of the ancient Egyptians began: pyramid-tombs for the pharaohs, (tombs of nobles) and temples with columns. The skill of creating a relief is also developing. The most legendary surviving monuments of this era are the pyramid complex at Giza.

Architecture of Ancient Egypt: Pyramids

For the Egyptians, the afterlife and preparation for it were important; for well-being after death, it was necessary to follow certain rituals and rules. For "eternal" existence, according to ancient Egyptian beliefs, it is necessary to preserve the body of the deceased and build a house for him. For a noble person, a mastaba was built, for an ordinary person, when they were still alive, colossal tombs were erected with a system of secret underground passages - pyramids. They placed a sarcophagus with a mummified king and all the necessary things and values \u200b\u200bfor an “eternal” existence. Most of the pyramids were built using the golden ratio, which indicates the professionalism and considerable knowledge of Egyptian architects.

Artistic art in the architecture of ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptian masters were among the first to use in architecture the decoration of buildings with reliefs, mosaics and paintings. The art of painting in ancient Egypt followed strict laws. On the outside of the buildings, the pharaoh was depicted on the walls. Inside the premises were usually decorated with images of cult scenes. had her own style. For example, the postures of people's bodies were unusual, even unnatural: the head and legs were drawn in profile, while other parts of the body were drawn in full face. Men were drawn much darker than women.

Architectural monuments of ancient Egypt

Another legendary monument is the pyramids of Giza, not far from Cairo. These include the largest tomb - the pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), approximately 150 meters high, one side of its base is 233 meters.
The most famous architectural monument of Ancient Egypt is the step pyramid of Djoser, created around 2650 BC. It is considered one of the most ancient pyramids, its height is 62 meters.
Temples in - a huge complex of structures and sculptures. This masterpiece of ancient Egyptian architecture attracts a lot of tourists with its grandeur and mystery.
The Valley of the Kings is a popular attraction in Egypt, located near Luxor. Impressive architectural and sculptural forms are amazing. There are numerous burials of the pharaohs of the Middle and New Kingdoms, including. The seated statues of Memnon in the Valley of the Kings make a stunning impression on onlookers.
And, of course, it is impossible not to remember the main symbol and historical monument of Egypt - the majestic Sphinx. Its length is about 70 meters, and its height is about 20 meters. It was created in 2500 BC. The lion-man proudly towers over the tourists, as if guarding the secrets of the ancient kings.

The economy and culture of Ancient Egypt arose on a narrow strip (15-20 km) of the fertile Nile valley, compressed by the Libyan and Arabian deserts.

The most ancient monuments of Egyptian architecture are concentrated in the river delta.

In the fertile, very long and narrow valley of the Nile, surrounded on both sides by the desert, a civilization developed, belonging to the most significant and peculiar cultures of the ancient world. The history of Ancient Egypt covers several millennia - from the end of the 5th millennium BC to the end of the 5th millennium BC. e. until the 4th c. n. e. For such a significant time in ancient Egypt, a huge number of magnificent buildings, sculptures, paintings, arts and crafts were created. Many of them remain unsurpassed examples of the highest craftsmanship and creative inspiration.

At the head of the state, which united the possessions of the Middle and Lower Nile and the end of the 4th millennium BC. e., there was a king (later received the title of pharaoh), who was considered the son of the sun god and heir to the god of the underworld, Osiris.

Independently of each other, the tribes of Lower and Upper Egypt create the foundations of a peculiar architecture. Its development is sometimes divided into several large time periods.

It is assumed that in prehistoric period(until 3200 BC) fortified settlements were built with residential buildings from short-lived materials and tomb architectural structures were erected.

IN period of the Old Kingdom, approximately in 2700-2200 years. BC e., the construction of monumental temple structures begins.

IN Middle Kingdom period(2200-1500 BC), when the city of Thebes was the capital, semi-cave temples appear.

IN period of the new kingdom(1500-1100 BC) outstanding temple buildings are being built in Karnak and Luxor. late

period, alien elements begin to penetrate into the architecture of Egypt.

Time Frames of Historical Periods

OK. 10000 - 5000 BC The first villages on the banks of the Nile; formation of 2 kingdoms - Upper and Lower Egypt
OK. 2630 BC 1st step pyramid built
OK. 2575 BC In the era of the Old Kingdom, bronze replaces copper; the pyramids are being built at Giza; mummification of the dead begins
OK. 2134 BC Civil strife destroys the Old Kingdom
OK. 2040 BC Beginning of the Middle Kingdom; to know Thebes unites the country; conquest of nubia
OK. 1700 BC End of the Middle Kingdom
1550 BC Beginning of the New Kingdom; standing army
1400 BC Egypt reaches the pinnacle of power
1070 BC Beginning of decline
332 BC Conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great
51 BC Beginning of Cleopatra's reign
30 BC Egypt becomes a Roman province

The main building material in Egypt is stone. The Egyptians were masters of its extraction and processing. They carved tall slender stone blocks in the form of obelisks, which were symbols of the sun - the great Ra, as well as huge pillars and columns as high as a three- and five-story building. Separate carefully hewn stone blocks were fitted to each other perfectly, dry, without mortar.

The weight of the heavy floor beams was carried by the walls, pylons and columns. The Egyptians did not use arches, although they knew this design. Stone slabs were laid on the beams. The supports were the most diverse; sometimes these are monolithic stone pillars of a simple square section, in other cases - columns consisting of a base, a trunk and a capital. Simple trunks had a square section, more complex ones were polyhedral and often depicted bundles of papyrus stems. Trunks sometimes had flutes (vertical grooves).

Egyptian architecture was characterized by a peculiar form of capitals depicting a flower of papyrus, lotus or palm leaves. In some cases, the head of the fertility goddess Hathor was carved on the capitals.

The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, which mixed the veneration of local deities, the cult of Osiris and Isis, as well as the sun god Amun, deserve special attention - they determined the social and state life of the country: the vast majority of the architectural monuments of Ancient Egypt were religious buildings: temples and burial complexes.

Palaces of Egypt

The palaces of the pharaohs and nobility in ancient Egypt were built mainly from clay bricks dried in the sun. Unlike temples, which were built of stone for centuries, where the gods were worshiped constantly and at all times, each of the pharaohs built himself a new palace after taking the throne. Abandoned buildings quickly dilapidated and collapsed, and therefore, as a rule, not even ruins remained from the palaces of the pharaohs. At best, on the site of magnificent palaces, you can find the remains of walls and broken tiles.

It is assumed that the appearance of the pharaoh's palace, its facade repeated the forms of architecture of the ancient royal tombs of that time. The tomb was considered the home of the deceased in his afterlife, it is logical to assume that it was similar to his dwelling in this life. Based on this assumption, the wall of the palace could be divided by ledges with figured battlements on top. The few surviving images of the palaces of the pharaohs indicate that the walls of the palace were decorated with bas-reliefs and ornaments.

We can see the palace façade on the famous palette of pharaoh Narmer; against its background, victories, the name and title of the pharaoh are depicted. From this image, we learn that the territory of the palace, which has the shape of a quadrangle, was surrounded by a fortress wall with towers. The foundation line of the building is also marked on the palette. A similar palace façade is depicted on the tombstone of Pharaoh Jet: on a rectangular field of the wall, three high towers stand out, decorated with three vertical spatula features. Between the towers you can see two recesses, similar to gates.

Huge sarcophagi made of basalt or limestone tell us especially clearly about the palace architecture of the ancient Egyptians. Their carved decorations on each of the four sides depict the facades of the royal palace.

Palace reconstruction

Luxury in the pharaoh's palace

pharaoh's palace

Temples of Egypt

The Temple of Thoth in Luxor is a historical monument of Egypt.

The shrine was built in 1925-1895 BC. The main building material is stone.

The ancient Egyptian Thoth was the god of wisdom and education, so huge statues of him were installed at the foot of the temple.

During the excavations at the base of the temple, 4 bronze chests were also found, the height of which is 20.5 centimeters, the width is 45 centimeters, and the length is 28.5 centimeters. They contained many silver balls, mostly crumpled, gold chains and moulds, lapis lazuli - raw or in the form of cylinder seals.

Ruins of the Temple of Osiris

The temple is located in the legendary Valley of the Kings. Unfortunately, only ruins remained from the once great temple, but they are literally saturated with the history of Ancient Egypt. It was built quite a long time ago and is of historical value. It was built by Pharaoh Seti I, who ruled from 1294. Until 1279 BC.

The building itself is very complex in its design and has a very large number of rooms. Seti I did not complete the construction of the temple, this difficult task was completed by his son Ramesses II. The design in its structure is quite complex, but interesting. There were two halls, each of which was decorated with many columns. In the first hall there were 24 of them, and in the second - 36. The second hall was the most mysterious: passages were made from it to seven sanctuaries. Each sanctuary was dedicated to one of the seven gods (Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amun, Ra-Horakhti, Ptah and Ra). At the end, Seti I himself was deified. In the chapels there was a statue of the god, a sacred boat and a false door. The spirit of the deity entered through this door.

Behind the temple itself is a building called the Osireion. On its walls you can see embossed texts from the "Necronomicon" - the Egyptian "Book of the Dead". The territory of the Temple of Osiris is still being studied by scientists and excavations are being carried out on it.

Temple of Merenptah

The mortuary temple of Merneptah is located in the Valley of the Kings and is practically destroyed. Once there was a whole complex, thought out to the smallest detail, but now only statues remain.

Previously, gates led to the first courtyard of the structure, opening a view of the colonnades - six columns on each side. The left side of the courtyard of the complex was the facade of the king's brick palace. And the giant Israel Stele, which once stood in front of the second pylon, was built in honor of Merenptah, indicating his military prowess.

This pylon was followed by a second courtyard, in which a bust of Merneptah from a collapsed statue was found. A passage led from the courtyard to the halls. The temple ended with 3 sanctuaries with rooms for sacrifices and sacred objects. Once the entire temple complex was decorated with tiles and gold, it was surrounded by a huge brick wall, but at present, almost nothing remains of the former buildings.

Temple of Montu

Temple of Montu is an Egyptian temple dedicated to Montu, the god of war.

This shrine was built during the Old Kingdom. The temple was located in the ancient city of Medamud. This city was excavated in 1925 by the French archaeologist Fernando Bisson de la Roque. During the excavations, numerous structures were discovered, as well as a temple.

Only columns and fragments of walls have survived to our time. The temple was built of brick and stone. The structure of the temple is as follows: platform, stands, canal, dromos, main gate, portico, hall and sanctuary. There was also a courtyard for a living sacred bull. God Montu was associated with a raging bull, so the bull was a revered animal. Montu himself was also depicted with the head of a bull. A similar statue and figurines of bulls were found during excavations of the temple.

Temple of Isis at Philae

The famous sanctuary of Isis, which existed until the disappearance of the ancient Egyptian civilization, is located on the island of Philae, not far from Aswan. Isis (Isis, Isis) - one of the greatest goddesses of antiquity, who became a model for understanding the Egyptian ideal of femininity and motherhood. She was revered as the sister and wife of Osiris, the mother of Horus, and, accordingly, of the Egyptian kings, who were originally considered the earthly incarnations of Osiris. The cult of Isis and the mysteries associated with it acquired a significant distribution in the Greco-Roman world, comparable to Christianity.

Now the temple of Isis is located on the island of Agilika. During the construction of the Aswan reservoir in 1960, UNESCO took the initiative to move the temple up the Nile. The temple was cut, dismantled, and then the stone blocks were transported and reassembled on the island of Agilika, located 500 meters upstream. All this was surrounded by such a wide PR activity, such as: the Russians destroy nature and monuments of ancient culture with their dams and reservoirs, and we, the enlightened Western world, save churches from flooding. It was only silent that this temple received the main damage after the construction of the English dam at the beginning of the century, and the Aswan dam, built with the help of the USSR, in turn, became an object of important social importance and maintaining the energy balance in the region, without which the modern Egyptian economy simply did not exist. would.

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