Karnak

Karnak, Ipet-isut, 'the most select of places', is a vast temple complex built over two thousand years in honor of Amun, the hidden king of the gods, who here became Amun-Ra. From the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemies, pharaoh after pharaoh added pylons, obelisks and halls; the Great Hypostyle Hall has 134 columns.

Beside Amun's precinct lie those of his wife Mut, where Amenhotep III set up hundreds of statues of Sekhmet, and of the war god Montu, with temples to Khonsu, son of Amun and Mut, and to Ptah. At the Opet festival, Amun's boat was carried to Luxor. In Aten and the Amarna Revolution, Akhenaten seals its doors.