Egyptian Arch
Egyptian Arch
Egyptian Arch
ARPITA SARKAR
AR. RANJITHA GOVINDRAJ
SCHOOL OF ARCHIRECTURE
RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE, BANGALORE
WHERE IS EGYPT?
• NORTH-EAST OF AFRICA
• ALONG THE NILE RIVER
GEOGRAPHICAL
The valley of the Nile that defined the
state of Egypt where the land was rich
in resources such as wild and
domesticated animals, fish, birds, stone
quarries and metals, specially gold, in
the Eastern Desert.
Most major structures were built close to the Nile, since the
building materials were transported by river.
GEOLOGICAL
Stone; like limestone, sandstone, and granite, as well as
sun-baked mud bricks were abundantly used in building.
Stone was widely used starting from the Old Kingdom. It
was mainly used for temples, tombs and sculpture. But
STONE MUD-BRICKS bricks were used for everything such as temple walls,
royal palaces, and civic complexes.
INFLUENCES ON ARCHITECTURE
CLIMATIC
Egypt has been said to have but two seasons, spring and summer.
Storm, fog, and even rain are rare, and these conditions have contributed to the
preservation of the buildings.
• Sufficient light reached the interior through doors and roof slits, there was no need for
windows, and thus unbroken massive walls not only protected the interior from the
fierce heat of the sun, but also provided an uninterrupted surface for hieroglyphics or
pictorial representations of religious ritual, historic incidents, and daily pursuits.
• In the absence of rain, roof drainage was not a consideration, and flat roofs of thick
stone slabs sufficed to cover in the building, and to exclude the heat.
EGYPTIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURAL CATEGORIES:
1. MASTABA TOMBS
2. P Y R A M I D S
3. VALLEY OF THE KINGS
4. T E M P L E S
5. PALACES/ HOUSES
6. SPHINX
7. OBELISK
8. PYLON
9. COLOUMNS
ART CULTURE:
• APART FROM THE PYRAMIDS, EGYPTIAN BUILDINGS WERE DECORATED WITH
PAINTINGS, CARVED STONE IMAGES, HIEROGLYPHS AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL
STATUES.
• THE ART TELLS THE STORY OF THE PHARAOHS, THE GODS, THE COMMON PEOPLE
AND THE NATURAL WORLD OF PLANTS, BIRDS AND ANIMALS.
MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL WORKS
Old Kingdom
1. Mastabas
2. Stepped Pyramid of Zozer @ Saqqara by Imhotep
3. Great Pyramids @ Giza Cheops (Khufu)
Chephren (Kafra)
Mykerinus (Menkaura)
Middle Kingdom
4. Rock Cut Tombs at Beni Hasan
New Kingdom
5. Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
6. Temple of Amen-Mut-Khonsu at Luxor
7. Temple of Amun at Karnak
8. Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel
9. Mortuary Complex of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu
10.Temple of Horus at Edfu
TOMBS
Bent Pyramid
MASTABA
• The earliest method of burial in ancient
Egypt was in shallow pits in the desert
• The desert dried the bodies and preserved
them
• When animals preyed on bodies, they
people dug deeper
• In the end they built a bench-like structure
over graves to create first burial structure
called MASTABA
• The Mastaba tomb had two structures, one underground; it was called substructure
and one above ground that was called superstructure
The name mastaba is derived from
podiums found in the front of traditional
houses
Above ground the mastaba is a large
9M
bench of sun-baked bricks rising 9 meters
high
It had a flat top and slanting walls
• Internally, a mastaba consist of three parts-
– burial chamber,
– serdab and
– Chapel
• The burial chamber was located 10 Meter
below ground
• Mastaba was connected to burial chamber
10 M
above ground through a shaft
In the chamber is found
the sarcophagus where
the dead body was placed
• The burial chamber is packed with all the necessary things needed in
the afterlife
• After burial, the shaft to the burial chamber was sealed
• The serdab is a room where the statue of the dead person is kept
• False doors were included to allow for the soul of the deceased to
escape the structure
1. Chapel
2. False Door PLAN
3. Shaft
4. Serdab
5. Burial chamber
VIEW
SECTIONAL
VIEW
• The chapel is where the ka is supposed to live forever
– Colorful room meant to deceive the gods into letting the ka enter the next world
– false door leading to the land of the dead
– The earliest royal tombs were decorated with painted patterns in brilliant colors
– Some mastabas had fence walls, and chambers for burial of servants
STEPPED PYRAMID
• Pyramids were funeral monuments to the
Pharaohs of The Old and Middle Kingdoms, and
the burial place of all the monarch's treasures
and household goods that they would need on
their journey to the afterlife.
• The shape of the pyramid represented the sun
and its rays descending to earth. Connected to
the sun God Amon Re.
• The first pyramid in Egypt; which is the famous
Step Pyramid of Saqqara.
• The stepped pyramid was built for king Zoser
(pharaoh of the third dynasty of the old
kingdom) by Imhotep
204’
92’
• It rose 204 feet and was composed of 6 separate steps. The base of the pyramid is 358
by 411 feet and the steps, or layers, were constructed and faced with limestone.
• The substructure of the pyramid comprises a maze of tunnels and chambers, including
several burial chambers, 92’ down
• and to the north of the pyramid is a mortuary complex which encompassed a life-size
limestone statue of Djoser.
• Funeral complex consisted of palaces, temples &
stepped pyramid
• All surrounded by fence wall 33’ high
• Fence wall of funeral complex has breaking pattern of
200 projections/recessions
• False doors for use of Pharaoh’s Ka
• Entrance door leads to long hall with two rows of
columns; One of the 1st uses of columns in history.
• Columns designed to look like bundles of reeds… &
flutes
• In North Palace also
stone columns with capital
capitals Designed to look
like papyrus plant
Shaft
• Zoser’s funeral complex
designed as model of his
palace, city & kingdom
BENT PYRAMID
43.35
54.52
• The Bent Pyramid rises from the desert at a 54-degree inclination, but the top section
(above 47 meters) is built at the shallower angle of 43 degrees, lending the pyramid its
very obvious 'bent' appearance.
• It has been suggested that due to the steepness of the original angle of inclination the
structure may have begun to show signs of instability during construction, forcing the
builders to adopt a shallower angle to avert the structure's collapse.
THE PYRAMID AT GIZA
481’
compass, and the length
450’
of each side at the base is
about 755 feet.
52
755’
• Two additional pyramids built at
Giza
• Three are aligned diagonally along the projection of the diagonal of the great pyramid
The hypostyle hall measures 338 feet by 170 feet. The roof
is supported by 134 columns in sixteen rows. The central
avenues are about 80 feet in height, and have columns 69
feet high and 11 3/5 feet in diameter, the capitals of which
are of the lotus blossom type. The side avenues are about 46
feet high and have columns 42 feet 6 inches in height and 9
feet in diameter, the Capitals being of the lotus bud type, on
which the clerestory light would fall.
KARNAK TEMPLE
69’ high and 11’3” in diameter
42’6” high and 9’ in diameter
80’
46’
1200’
338’
360’
275 170
SECTIONAL VIEW
The impression produced on the spectator by the forest of columns is most awe inspiring,
and the eye is led from the smaller columns of the side avenues, which gradually vanish into
semi-darkness, giving an idea of unlimited size, to the larger columns of the central avenues
lighted by the clerestory, which is formed in the difference of height between the central
and side avenues, a form of lighting more fully developed in the Gothic period.
PYLON