Karnak, el gran templo de Egipto, es una de las maravillas arquitectónicas más impresionantes del mundo antiguo. Este vasto complejo, ubicado cerca de Luxor, es un testimonio de la grandeza y la devoción de la civilización egipcia. A lo largo de más de dos mil años, diversos faraones contribuyeron a su construcción, creando un lugar sagrado que fue dedicado a Amon-Ra, el dios del sol. El templo de Karnak no solo es notable por su tamaño, sino también por su rica iconografía y los intrincados relieves que adornan sus muros.
Explorar Karnak es sumergirse en la historia, donde cada columna y cada obelisco cuentan historias de dioses y faraones. La Gran Sala Hipóstila, con sus 134 columnas gigantes, es una de las principales atracciones, y su majestuosa estructura deja sin aliento a los visitantes. Además, el complejo alberga diversos templos, capillas y estanques sagrados, todos rodeados de un ambiente místico y reverente.
El documental "Karnak, el gran templo de Egipto" ofrece una mirada profunda a la historia, la arquitectura y el significado espiritual de este increíble lugar. A través de imágenes impactantes y narraciones informativas, se invita al espectador a comprender la importancia de Karnak no solo en el contexto egipcio, sino también en la historia de la humanidad.
Al explorar este magnífico templo, los espectadores podrán apreciar el legado que ha perdurado a lo largo de los siglos, convirtiendo a Karnak en un destino imprescindible para los amantes de la historia y la arqueología.
#Karnak, #TemplosDeEgipto, #HistoriaAntigua
Keywords: Karnak, templo de Egipto, arquitectura egipcia, historia antigua, Amon-Ra, Luxor, faraones, Gran Sala Hipóstila, mitología egipcia, arqueología.
Explorar Karnak es sumergirse en la historia, donde cada columna y cada obelisco cuentan historias de dioses y faraones. La Gran Sala Hipóstila, con sus 134 columnas gigantes, es una de las principales atracciones, y su majestuosa estructura deja sin aliento a los visitantes. Además, el complejo alberga diversos templos, capillas y estanques sagrados, todos rodeados de un ambiente místico y reverente.
El documental "Karnak, el gran templo de Egipto" ofrece una mirada profunda a la historia, la arquitectura y el significado espiritual de este increíble lugar. A través de imágenes impactantes y narraciones informativas, se invita al espectador a comprender la importancia de Karnak no solo en el contexto egipcio, sino también en la historia de la humanidad.
Al explorar este magnífico templo, los espectadores podrán apreciar el legado que ha perdurado a lo largo de los siglos, convirtiendo a Karnak en un destino imprescindible para los amantes de la historia y la arqueología.
#Karnak, #TemplosDeEgipto, #HistoriaAntigua
Keywords: Karnak, templo de Egipto, arquitectura egipcia, historia antigua, Amon-Ra, Luxor, faraones, Gran Sala Hipóstila, mitología egipcia, arqueología.
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TVTranscripción
00:00In the heart of Egypt, on the eastern shore of the Nile,
00:06a 4,000-year-old architectural complex of unusual dimensions has survived almost intact.
00:12The temples of Karnak.
00:14Karnak is considered one of the largest architectural complexes, not only in Egypt, but in the world.
00:22Built in honor of Amon-Ra, the sun god,
00:25these gigantic buildings were built over more than two millennia before Christ,
00:31constantly evolving according to the wishes of the greatest pharaohs.
00:35These sovereigns, such as Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses II,
00:39made him the symbol of their divine power.
00:42The idea that the pharaoh was the son of God was deeply rooted.
00:47Not only was he a human king, he was also considered a god on earth.
00:53In Karnak, the ingenuity of the builders of ancient Egypt fascinates Egyptologists from all over the world.
00:59In the Center for Franco-Egyptian Studies,
01:02distinguished specialists decipher the traces of the past,
01:06analyze the ancient construction techniques,
01:09and collaborate in the restoration of this extraordinary settlement.
01:13It is an extraordinary place, and it is part of our mission to preserve it
01:17and make it pass on to future generations.
01:20It is the most important source of information on the history and culture of the country.
01:28The study of the temples of Karnak is revealing many mysteries.
01:34How did the builders build the blocks of several tons of weight
01:38to the top of the walls, without using lifting equipment?
01:42How did they carve and erect the largest obelisk preserved in Egypt?
01:47What technical prowess did they use to erect the 134 columns of the great hypostyle hall?
01:54The Egyptians compensated for their lack of technology with ingenuity and time.
02:01A lot of time.
02:03And with a colossal amount of manpower.
02:08Thousands and thousands of people worked on these works that lasted decades.
02:14Scenery of the most important ceremonies and rites of the ancient Egyptian religion.
02:19Karnak is witness to the greatness of this disappeared civilization.
02:24Heritage of the 89 pharaohs who subsequently evolved this place of power and worship.
02:30Karnak is still the largest temple in Egypt.
02:39Karnak, the Great Temple of Egypt.
02:44In Egypt, 650 kilometers south of Cairo, on the eastern bank of the Nile,
02:51the city of Luxor houses a monumental architectural complex, the Sacred Complex of Karnak.
02:58Its temples extend over a hundred hectares, the surface of 150 football fields.
03:05The Karnak site is exceptional in its size and surface.
03:10It is the largest temple preserved from antiquity.
03:14There are remains dated from the beginning of the Middle Empire,
03:17approximately 2000 BC until the Roman era.
03:21It is a site that spans 2,500 years.
03:25It was the capital of Egypt for a long time.
03:30The country's neuralgic center, with a very powerful clergy.
03:36And where the pharaohs resided during all the periods in which the city was the capital.
03:43The architectural complex of Karnak is divided into three different parts,
03:48each of them protected from the outside by a thick surrounding wall.
03:52To the north is the Temple of Montu, whose square enclosure measures 140 meters wide
03:58and occupies a surface of 20,000 square meters.
04:01To the south is the enclosure of Mutu.
04:03Its temples span 150,000 square meters,
04:06surrounded by a complex of 500 meters long and 310 meters wide.
04:11In the center, the immense area dedicated to Mon Ra occupies 260,000 square meters
04:17and is fortified by a wall 525 meters long and 495 meters wide.
04:24In the golden age of Karnak, these walls were more than 20 meters high,
04:29a considerable size.
04:31They completely concealed the sanctuary,
04:34because the Egyptian religion is a religion of mystery,
04:38and it was assumed that one could not see what was happening in the domain of the gods.
04:43For the Egyptians, Karnak is the most sacred of the places.
04:47Here, the successive pharaohs have built buildings continuously,
04:52each one more impressive than the previous one.
04:56Karnak is one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt,
05:01not only because of the large number of kings who participated in its construction in ancient times,
05:06but also because of the great variety of monuments it houses.
05:13Here, for example, a 3,500-year-old obelisk is erected.
05:18At a height of 30 meters, it is the largest obelisk in Egypt still standing,
05:23a monumental and posthumous room bordered by 134 columns
05:27has been impressing visitors for millennia.
05:30Outside the enclosure, an avenue of almost three kilometers long
05:33housed no less than a thousand sphinxes,
05:36which joined Karnak's sacred enclosure with the Luxor Temple.
05:40In historical and patrimonial terms, Karnak is an inexhaustible source of information,
05:46and it also provides us with the most important teachings on the country's cultural history.
05:55For more than a century, French and Egyptians have been working together
05:59to study and preserve what appears to be the largest religious complex in the world.
06:04Since 1967, they have been collaborating at the CFEETK,
06:09the Franco-Egyptian Centre for the Study of the Temples of Karnak.
06:14The work of the first archaeologists and Egyptologists
06:17who rediscovered the enclosure in the 19th century continues.
06:21Due to the Roman conquest of Egypt, Karnak has been forgotten since the 3rd century AD.
06:32When the first explorers and Egyptologists discovered Karnak,
06:36they only saw the upper parts of the monuments
06:39because no excavation had yet taken place.
06:42The enclosure was completely covered in rubble,
06:45accumulated during the thousands of years that the place had been abandoned.
06:49It flooded about four meters, we didn't realize it,
06:52but the water was entering the temple year after year.
06:55The Nile has always had periodic growths,
06:58and the water level inside the temple has been increasing year after year,
07:02until it reached four meters in total.
07:06In 1896, important excavation work began in the west of the enclosure.
07:12In front of the first pylon, under meters of accumulated soil,
07:16a path surrounded by sphinxes with carnation heads appears,
07:20as well as the dromos, the access platform to the complex.
07:25Inside, there are temples, chapels and columns,
07:29all of them in ruins or in a worrying state of deterioration.
07:36This also happens with the great hypostyle room,
07:39located between the second and third pylons.
07:42The repeated infiltrations of water from the Nile,
07:45due to the annual growth,
07:47have reduced the foundation of the buildings.
07:50In 1899, part of the columns of the hypostyle room
07:54collapse shortly after being unearthed.
07:59After this dramatic event,
08:01French and Egyptian experts propose to rebuild everything possible.
08:06A long process that continues to this day.
08:10A team from the CFEETK works in the north of the enclosure,
08:14around the remains of an ancient monumental door
08:17dating from the reign of Ramses III.
08:20Century after century, it has been collapsing,
08:23and now it is in a critical state.
08:26For millennia, the growth of the Nile and the rise of the phreatic level
08:30have weakened the foundations of all the buildings of Karnak.
08:35Today, the dams have finally stabilized the level of the river.
08:39But the evil is already done.
08:42This fluctuation of the phreatic level
08:45causes the salts present naturally in the soil of Egypt
08:49to rise through the sandstone.
08:52When recrystallized, these salts cause the stone to break
08:56and gradually turn into sand.
08:59Thus, once the foundations are completely destroyed,
09:02the monument sinks little by little into the ground
09:05and collapses until it reaches this result that we are seeing.
09:09To save the building, the experts will have to dismantle it completely
09:13before thinking about reassembling it on new foundations.
09:19Sometimes professionals have to rebuild buildings
09:22that have completely disappeared.
09:25Buildings that have been dismantled over the centuries
09:28to be used in the construction of other parts of the temple.
09:33During the excavation of the ruins of the third pylon in the 1920s,
09:37archaeologists discovered a real treasure.
09:41Stones that had been reused in the masonry,
09:44but that actually belonged to one of the first buildings
09:47built in Karnak by the pharaoh Sesostris I.
09:52A temple that has now been rebuilt in a part of the settlement
09:55called Museo al Aire Libre.
09:58Here, the Franco-Egyptian center is rebuilding buildings
10:01whose original location is now occupied by more recent structures.
10:06The white chapel of Sesostris I is almost 4,000 years old
10:10and was founded by Sesostris I around 1930 BC.
10:15It is a monument for ceremonies and special celebrations.
10:19It is not a place of daily worship.
10:22Despite its 4,000 years, this limestone building
10:25is in excellent condition.
10:28And the bas-reliefs that decorate each face of its 16 columns
10:32have fascinated all the Egyptologists who have studied them.
10:35The most notable thing is the delicacy of the engraving,
10:38the fine detail of each of the signs that seem to come to life.
10:43It is probably the pinnacle of art during the Middle Egyptian Empire.
10:49On the walls of the chapel,
10:51several personalities are represented and named.
10:54First, the pharaoh who commissioned the work.
10:58In this area, the hieroglyphics Heper, Ka, and Ra are read,
11:03which indicate the name of the coronation of the pharaoh Sesostris I.
11:08On several occasions, he is represented interacting with the deity
11:12that has always been venerated in Karnak.
11:16It is the god Amon,
11:18recognizable by his touch adorned with two large feathers.
11:224,000 years ago, it was a god who had just emerged.
11:26The rulers, who came from the southern part of Egypt,
11:30tried to promote their lineage and give themselves legitimacy,
11:35putting themselves under the patronage of a god they had just created.
11:40The new deity was Amon-Ra.
11:42He was associated with the solar aspect of the known god Ra,
11:45to make him a god that was located at the top of the Egyptian pantheon.
11:49The main symbolism of Amon is the invisible or the hidden.
11:54Amon is behind everything.
11:57It is the secret of everything, according to ancient Egyptian thought.
12:02And his role in the creation of the universe is very important.
12:08Amon-Ra was even attributed the appearance of the waters of the Nile,
12:13the main source of life in Egypt.
12:16This omnipotence links him to the animal form with which he is associated.
12:20Sometimes Amon is represented in the form of a carnivore,
12:24because it is an animal that has the ability to find water in the desert.
12:30At the same time, it also symbolizes fertility,
12:33something very important.
12:35Amon symbolizes the fertility and the perpetuation of life.
12:42As Amon-Ra was a solar god,
12:44the temple dedicated to him was built with an east-west orientation,
12:48based on the sun's exit in the winter solstice.
12:53And as the point from which the sun comes out in the winter solstice
12:56has not changed much over the millennia,
12:59even today, on December 21,
13:01the sun appears on the axis of the great temple of Amon-Ra in Karnak.
13:10Under the protection of Amon-Ra,
13:12the pharaohs designated the city of Thebes,
13:15now Luxor, as the capital of ancient Egypt.
13:19From the beginning of the New Empire,
13:21they established their necropolises in the vicinity,
13:24on the opposite bank of the Nile.
13:27Converted into the center of political power,
13:30Karnak remained an important religious complex during this period.
13:35It was the starting point of long religious processions
13:38in which the statues of the gods were transported
13:41in sacred boats from temple to temple.
13:45Thus, the reason for being a sanctuary like that of Amon-Ra
13:49was to protect the sacred boat
13:51and the representation of the god associated with it.
13:55In its center is what we call the Naos,
13:57the home of the god.
13:59Here is where the most sacred statue would be housed,
14:02an image to which, in theory, only the king has access.
14:05Obviously, as the king of Egypt could not be everywhere,
14:09in each sanctuary there was a high cleric
14:12who performed the daily rites.
14:16In this Naos, an imposing granite stele
14:19serves as a resting place for the sacred boat of the venerated god.
14:23The role of this boat is fundamental in Egyptian mythology.
14:27The boat symbolizes the end of a cycle and the beginning of the next,
14:31and can be both a symbol of the passage to the afterlife
14:35and that of the resurrection.
14:37All the architecture of the temple is organized around the Naos
14:41to protect it in this chapel, also called Sancta Sanctorum.
14:47The Egyptian temples are designed like Russian dolls.
14:51The god is located in the center of the composition
14:55and each part of the temple comes to encompass the god,
14:59to protect him, layer after layer.
15:03It could be said that the Egyptians had this idea of the hidden god very present.
15:09You enter the temple through the first courtyard,
15:12which is bathed in light and is in the open sky.
15:16Then you go through the hypostyle room, partially illuminated,
15:21to finally reach the Sancta Sanctorum, which is completely dark.
15:27You have to be a little afraid of anyone who wants to enter the abode of the god Amon.
15:33This is an excellent example of the close link
15:36between architecture and religion in ancient Egypt.
15:41The first temple of Amon-Ra was built during the Middle Empire,
15:45between 2022 and 1784 BC.
15:50It consisted of a square chapel and a monumental pylon to the west, facing the Nile.
15:56Layer by layer, the abode developed around the primitive temple.
16:02First came the constructions of Thutmose I between 1493 and 1481 BC,
16:10and then those of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III between 1323 and 1293 BC.
16:20The pharaoh Horenheb built a new pylon to the west of the abode,
16:24while Seti I and Ramses II completed the expansion,
16:28erecting the impressive hypostyle room between 1291 and 1213 BC.
16:36It was not until the reign of Nektanebob I between 378 and 341 BC
16:43that the first pylon was erected, along with the Dromos.
16:47A wide access platform was built along the river.
16:52As the Nile's bed was moving with the passage of the centuries,
16:56the temples developed to the west, with direct access to its shores.
17:02From these access ramps, the sacred boats of the gods set out in procession,
17:07loaded with larger boats.
17:11It was the moment when the god abandoned his temple
17:14and became close to the people who could see the boat in the Nile,
17:18heading to the west shore for the beautiful festival of the valley,
17:21or the great feast of Opet.
17:23At that moment, Amun abandoned the temple of Karnak
17:26to go to his great temple of Luxor and thus revitalize his energy.
17:33Considered the most sumptuous religious festival in Pharaonic Egypt,
17:37the feast of Opet was celebrated every year and lasted about 24 days.
17:43It is dedicated to what is known as the Triada Thebana,
17:46the god Amun-Ra,
17:48his wife Mut, who symbolizes maternal values,
17:51and his son Honsu, the god Lunar.
17:55During the feast of Opet,
17:57his three sacred boats left their resting places in Karnak
18:01to go to the neighboring temple of Luxor,
18:03accompanied by fans whose function was to drive away the evil spirits.
18:09The journey from the temple of Karnak to Luxor was made by land
18:13along the three kilometers of the Sphinx Avenue.
18:19There were six resting places along the way,
18:22where rites and offerings were made.
18:27For the return journey to Karnak,
18:29the boats were placed in much larger boats.
18:33Dragged by the current, they floated along the Nile to the dock
18:37located at the entrance of the temple of Amun-Ra,
18:40where they returned to their original resting place.
18:44It was not until 1949 that the archaeologists rediscovered the Sphinx Avenue.
18:51Over the centuries,
18:53this processional walkway used during the feast of Opet
18:56had been completely covered, buried under a thick layer of mud.
19:01Clearing it completely was a colossal task.
19:06We had to work for almost 72 years,
19:09from the day we found the first statue on the Sphinx Avenue
19:14until the official inauguration on November 21, 2021.
19:21As was imaginable, we did not find all the statues
19:24in a great state of conservation.
19:28In the Roman era, and even later,
19:31many of these statues had been removed from their pedestals,
19:35cut into pieces, and then reused
19:38to build other buildings exactly in the same place.
19:42The reuse of these parts of the Sphinx
19:45can still be seen today in some masonry buildings of the Roman era.
19:50For example, we have this block, which is the face of the Sphinx.
19:55You can see the eyes, the nose, and part of the head.
20:00In other places we have what would be the shoulders
20:03and other parts of the body of the Sphinx.
20:07Of course, our work consists of studying all these blocks,
20:11reconstructing the Sphinxes,
20:13and putting them back in their original place on the pedestals.
20:19To date, the Egyptologists have restored about 60 statues.
20:24It is an endless task.
20:27Originally, 1,059 Sphinxes guarded this avenue
20:31of 30 meters wide and 3 kilometers long.
20:35In Egyptian mythology, their function was to protect the gods and kings.
20:41The Sphinxes with carnation heads guard the entrances to the temples,
20:45while those with human heads guard the great processions of Karnak.
20:50At the end of the Sphinx Avenue,
20:53the Luxor Temple served as a secondary residence of the god Amon-Ra.
20:58The building, built in the 14th century BC,
21:01by order of the pharaohs Amenophis III and Ramses II,
21:05is more than 260 meters long and about 50 meters wide.
21:10Here, during the feast of Opet, which celebrates the Renaissance,
21:14the boats and statues of the gods of Karnak
21:17spent ten days in the heart of the temple for their rest.
21:22Many, many different rituals are represented on these walls
21:26as part of the festival of Opet.
21:29You can see lists that indicate the number of offerings
21:33that were made to each deity in front of his sacred boat.
21:39Thanks to this, we can know all the rituals
21:43that the pharaoh or the priest who replaced him performed.
21:47They offered water, wine, food, and incense.
21:51So we can actually reconstruct these rituals with great precision.
21:57What the engravings of the Luxor Temple make clear
22:01is that the feast of Opet also meant an opportunity
22:04for the pharaoh to renew his power every year.
22:08On his knees, the pharaoh received his crown
22:11and therefore was legitimized to reign by the orders of God himself
22:15and for his right to rule to be even more consolidated.
22:19The pharaohs also claimed to be children of the god Amon-Ra.
22:23Inside the temple, a room known as the birth chamber
22:27presents engraved scenes that illustrate this fundamental principle
22:31of Egyptian mythology, known as the Theogamy.
22:35On these walls, Amenophis III narrates the story of his divine birth.
22:39In this scene here, it depicts the moment of conception
22:44when the god Amon-Ra took the form of the king's biological father,
22:49the pharaoh Thutmose IV, and went with the queen,
22:53the mother of Amenophis III, in the middle of the night to conceive him.
23:00The couple had the support of two goddesses, Serket and Neid,
23:04during this sacred act of union that led to the birth of Amenophis III.
23:09As a result, not only was a human king born,
23:12but also a god on earth, literally the son of the god Amon-Ra.
23:19This concept of the Theogamy
23:21undeniably reinforced the legitimacy of the pharaohs.
23:25Some also reaffirmed their power
23:27by launching ambitious architectural programs.
23:30This is the case of the emblematic Hatshepsut,
23:33who had to impose himself on the Egyptian people to become a pharaoh.
23:41In Karnak, he had six monumental obelisks built,
23:45four of them in the heart of the temple of Amon-Ra.
23:49He also added an imposing 21-meter-high pylon at the southern entrance,
23:53adorned with six large 10-meter-high royal giants.
23:59There was another more modest building,
24:01but of surprising characteristics,
24:03which also contributed to its legend,
24:05the Red Chapel,
24:08which is currently being rebuilt at the Museo al Aire Libre.
24:11It was rebuilt in 1997,
24:14from more than 300 blocks
24:16that were scattered in the filling of the third pylon.
24:20The experts of the time were surprised
24:23by how regular the lines of these blocks were,
24:27showing a pattern consisting of eight rows inside
24:32and seven rows outside of quartzite blocks,
24:36with a cornice and a durite pedestal.
24:39The regularity of the blocks, which fit perfectly,
24:42suggests that it is one of the first prefabricated buildings.
24:47It is a totally innovative building.
24:51When the building was rebuilt,
24:53this hypothesis of a joint construction was confirmed.
24:58The Red Chapel of the pharaoh Hatshepsut
25:01is made up of a series of blocks of red quartzite
25:04of almost standardised dimensions.
25:09They all measure about 59 centimetres high
25:12and, alternatively, 50 centimetres or one metre wide.
25:19Each stone is systematically carved
25:22so that hooks or wooden levers could be used,
25:25which would facilitate the placement of the blocks.
25:31Other notches are designed
25:33to facilitate the use of ducktails,
25:36butterfly-shaped pegs that are inserted between two blocks
25:39to effectively join the stones.
25:42Thanks to these different systems,
25:44the workers of ancient Egypt
25:46built the Red Chapel in record time.
25:50Until the 18th dynasty, under the reign of Hatshepsut,
25:54no other monument of this type had been built.
25:59Unfortunately, no other example has been found since then,
26:02at least until several centuries later.
26:05That is why, for us, this construction is still a mystery.
26:10The experts of the Franco-Egyptian Centre for the Study of the Temples of Karnak
26:14often face this type of mystery.
26:17Their work is nothing more than an unusual game
26:19of search for treasure and archaeological research.
26:22During the excavations that have been carried out in Karnak
26:26for more than a century,
26:28a large number of scattered blocks have been found,
26:31belonging to various monuments dismantled during antiquity.
26:36Each of these blocks has been carefully numbered and catalogued,
26:40and they have also been grouped by families.
26:43It is extremely difficult to date a block by itself,
26:48but its decoration is a very important clue about its origin,
26:53and above all, the period in which it belongs.
26:59In the southwestern warehouse of the temple,
27:011,600 blocks of limestone have been catalogued
27:04as belonging to the time of Amenophis I,
27:07a pharaoh of the late 16th century BC.
27:12All of them belong to a monumental complex
27:14that could have been commissioned by the pharaoh.
27:17Today, it has disappeared.
27:20The aim of this game is to put everything together
27:23to be able to reconstruct the monument.
27:26It is a kind of puzzle,
27:28in which you don't have the lid of the box,
27:30and it also lacks pieces.
27:33In order to have a complete perspective
27:35of all the pieces of the puzzle,
27:37an essential step must be taken,
27:39to make a three-dimensional model.
27:43For this, a vast photogrammetric project has been undertaken.
27:48The principle of photogrammetry
27:50is to take a series of photos
27:52to create a model
27:54from which we extract the parts that interest us.
27:58It works by triangulation.
28:01For a block of this size,
28:03we will make 60 or 70 photos.
28:07Block by block, these photos are processed automatically
28:10by the 3D modeling software.
28:13As they are assembled,
28:14a cloud of points is produced
28:16that allows each block to be reconstructed
28:18as a single three-dimensional image.
28:22Finally, the final product looks like this.
28:26It is a mosaic garden.
28:28Therefore, it is a first assembly
28:30on which we will work to reinforce the shadows
28:33and try to highlight the colors where they exist.
28:36When we take block 176,
28:38the first thing we have to do
28:40is apply a shadow
28:42to highlight the relief
28:44and reveal things
28:46that were not seen at first glance.
28:49In blocks with drawings and hieroglyphics,
28:51this technique allows to highlight
28:53the smallest details of the engraving.
28:56This is because the resulting image,
28:58the orthophotography,
29:00is of very high resolution and absolute sharpness.
29:04The great advantage is that the designer
29:07can bring the image closer and away
29:09almost as if it were in front of the wall.
29:12It's like being in front of the block.
29:15Moving from orthophotography to drawing
29:17is a surprising but essential stage
29:19in the creation of this giant puzzle.
29:23Of the 1,600 blocks found
29:25in the four corners of the Amon Temple,
29:27not all are in the same state of conservation.
29:31The decorative elements are represented
29:33in a clear and identical way
29:35on a white background with black outlines.
29:37They will serve as markers
29:39to classify and juxtapose the blocks more easily.
29:43All the final assembly
29:45is based on this extremely meticulous
29:47and meticulous work.
29:50The blocks of Amenophis I
29:52are one of the most detailed
29:54in the entire temple of Karnak.
29:57And that's what makes them so interesting
29:59and so beautiful,
30:01but at the same time so laborious.
30:03With these blocks,
30:05it can take me a week to make a face.
30:08All those birds and snakes,
30:10the feathers and scales,
30:12take me a long time.
30:14However, the result is very beautiful.
30:17That's why it's also interesting
30:19to reconstruct the monument to Amenophis,
30:21because with a engraving of this quality,
30:23the result will be something magnificent.
30:28From thousands of drawings
30:30of individual blocks,
30:32they will be reconstructed
30:34virtually on a computer
30:36for each of the walls.
30:38This way, they will be able to deduce
30:40how those walls fit together
30:42to form a building.
30:45In this particular case,
30:47an entire architectural complex
30:49with niches and chapels
30:51for the royal cult is revealed,
30:53slaughterhouses dedicated
30:55to the sacrifices of animals,
30:57and in the center,
30:59a sacred resting place.
31:02These buildings would form
31:04a 35 m x 50 m long quadrilateral,
31:06with a total surface
31:08of 1,750 m2.
31:13Completely unknown until now,
31:15this complex, once reconstructed,
31:17will be the definitive culmination
31:19of a multidisciplinary work
31:21that will confirm to the Egyptologists
31:23what are currently only theories
31:25about the reign of Amenophis I.
31:28This is the definitive verification
31:30of our hypotheses.
31:32In addition, it is also a way
31:34to preserve the blocks,
31:36since they are assembled
31:38inside the slaughterhouse,
31:40fitted together,
31:42protected from natural phenomena
31:44such as rain, wind, sand, etc.
31:46Therefore, the result of the reconstruction
31:48is something very practical
31:50and offers several advantages.
31:52These hundreds of limestone blocks,
31:54like those of sandstone,
31:56which make up the vast majority
31:58of Egyptian buildings,
32:00have survived for thousands of years
32:02in an incredible way.
32:04Thanks to the warm and extremely dry climate
32:06of southern Egypt,
32:08many have survived almost intact.
32:10The same does not happen, however,
32:12with the elements built in adobe,
32:14a material with a shorter useful life,
32:16but which is an essential part
32:18of Egyptian architecture.
32:22Made from clay, sand and straw,
32:24adobe was the material
32:26chosen for all the secular constructions,
32:28for the surrounding walls,
32:30but above all,
32:32for the craftsmen's shops
32:34and the houses that no longer exist.
32:40It was also used for the scaffolding
32:42used in the construction
32:44of stone monuments,
32:46such as the scaffolding
32:48for the first pylon of Karnak,
32:50which is what we call
32:52heavy scaffolding.
32:54Today there are very few left
32:56because they were destroyed immediately
32:58after their use in this period.
33:02These adobe scaffoldings
33:04were used as access ramps.
33:06Ancient Egyptian builders
33:08did not use lifting equipment,
33:10so these ramps
33:12allowed to lift blocks
33:14of several tons of weight
33:16to the top of the masonry.
33:18The heaviest elements
33:20to erect were undoubtedly the obelisks.
33:22Although today
33:24very few remain standing,
33:26in its heyday
33:28the site housed 17 monumental obelisks.
33:32An obelisk is a very large
33:34granite needle,
33:36that is, a monolith.
33:38It is a block
33:40of a single carved piece,
33:42with a very elongated shape
33:44and topped off by the pyramidion,
33:46a small pyramid
33:48that was covered by a layer of gold
33:50and presented by a ray of sun.
33:54The highest obelisk
33:56in Karnak,
33:58today missing,
34:00measured 36 metres
34:02and weighed 500 tonnes,
34:04the weight of two trans-oceanic aircraft.
34:06At 29.5 metres,
34:08the obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut
34:10is as tall as a 10-storey building.
34:12It is the largest obelisk
34:14preserved in Egypt.
34:16It is estimated
34:18to weigh 325 tonnes.
34:22Carving such a large block
34:24on such a hard rock as granite
34:26was a technical feat for the builders
34:28of ancient Egypt.
34:30To understand how they did it,
34:32we have to visit the quarry
34:34where all the obelisks in Karnak come from.
34:40The quarry is situated
34:42just over 220 kilometres south of Luxor,
34:44in the city of Aswan.
34:46It is located very close
34:48to the eastern edge of the Nile
34:50to facilitate the transport of the granite
34:52extracted from the settlement.
34:54For the researchers of the history
34:56of construction,
34:58the Aswan quarry is a real information mine.
35:02At the heart of this quarry
35:04is the unfinished obelisk,
35:06which is a monster 42 metres long
35:08and weighs about 1,200 tonnes.
35:12This element is a gift from heaven
35:14to us as it allows us
35:16to study all the techniques
35:18used to extract, carve
35:20and transport obelisks.
35:22Rather than carving an obelisk,
35:24we could call it drilling.
35:28Throughout the entire perimeter
35:30of the block they wanted to extract,
35:32the workers literally sank into the rock
35:34until they reached a depth
35:36corresponding to the width of the obelisk.
35:40Once the desired depth was reached,
35:42instead of digging vertically,
35:44the workers dug
35:46under the obelisk,
35:48leaving a stone crest
35:50between the rock bed
35:52and the piece of granite itself.
35:58Finally, they only had to
36:00tilt the obelisk to one side
36:02to cut the fourth
36:04and last face.
36:06In this case,
36:08this last step was not carried out
36:10because the obelisk broke.
36:12It was a very bad luck for them,
36:14but for us it is a real opportunity
36:16because it allows us to study
36:18the tools used
36:20for this type of work.
36:24These tools,
36:26used more than 3,500 years ago,
36:28are at least surprising.
36:30The traces found
36:32in the extraction ditches
36:34have allowed us to identify them
36:36without a doubt.
36:38In this ditch,
36:40you can see many very rounded depressions,
36:42which are the marks
36:44produced by the tools used.
36:46What you see here
36:48are dolerite blocks.
36:52Dolerite is a material
36:54that is much harder than granite
36:56and is used as a percussion
36:58for the extraction process,
37:00but it is still extremely slow.
37:02To speed up the work
37:04and facilitate the cutting of this rock
37:06in Honduras,
37:08the ancient Egyptians used
37:10a very ingenious system.
37:12First of all,
37:14they lit large bonfires
37:16in the excavation areas.
37:18As the rock rose in temperature,
37:20it dilated.
37:22After a few hours,
37:24the workers poured cold water
37:26over the fire,
37:28creating a thermal shock
37:30that contracted the rock
37:32and caused micro-fissures.
37:34The dilated rock was hammered
37:36with dolerite percuttors.
37:38Thus, the granite could be cut
37:40to a depth of more than 4 meters
37:42and a perimeter of almost 90 meters
37:44in just a few weeks of work.
37:48Once again,
37:50these elements show pragmatism
37:52and, above all,
37:54the great dominance
37:56that the Egyptians had
37:58over the materials and their environment.
38:00With a few stones
38:02they were able to create
38:04gigantic monoliths.
38:06While we,
38:08with a much more modern technology,
38:10have almost the same problems.
38:16Once the granite was extracted
38:18from its mass,
38:20they had to take the gigantic monolith
38:22to Karnak.
38:24But before they could transport it
38:26through the Nile,
38:28they had to place the obelisk
38:30There is no doubt that
38:32carrying the Hatshepsut obelisk
38:34was a huge challenge.
38:36How did the ancient Egyptians
38:38manage to float this giant
38:40more than 29 meters long
38:42and almost 325 tons of weight?
38:44A theory is that
38:46at the time it was extracted,
38:48the Aswan quarry
38:50was joined to the Nile
38:52by an artificial channel.
38:56The obelisk was placed
38:58on a wooden platform
39:00that crossed the channel.
39:02A boat,
39:04loaded with stones,
39:06was placed under the obelisk.
39:08As the load was unloaded,
39:10the boat emerged gradually
39:12and ended up lifting
39:14the structure it had to transport.
39:16All that was left was to navigate
39:18through the Nile in the natural direction
39:20of the current to reach Karnak,
39:22more than 220 kilometers downriver.
39:24Once the obelisk
39:26reached the temple,
39:28the builders faced a new
39:30important challenge,
39:32to lift it to a vertical position.
39:34There are many theories,
39:36each one more crazy than the previous one,
39:38about the erection of the obelisks.
39:40Some even evoke the supernatural,
39:42since the idea
39:44that the ancient man
39:46could have done it without a crane
39:48seems very unlikely.
39:50Actually, with a bit of ingenuity,
39:52wood, rope, rope and a few bricks,
39:54they managed to do what
39:56seems completely impossible to us.
39:58Initially,
40:00an adobe box was built
40:02almost 30 meters high
40:04in the place intended for the obelisk.
40:06In the lower part of the construction
40:08holes were opened
40:10that were later covered.
40:12Then the box
40:14was completely filled
40:16with almost 500 cubic meters of sand.
40:20In front of this first construction
40:22a huge ramp was raised,
40:24made of adobe,
40:26to give the obelisk a smooth slope
40:28to the upper part of the box.
40:30From there,
40:32the obelisk advanced slowly
40:34until its base was on the sand.
40:38Then the workers
40:40destroyed the openings
40:42of the base of the box
40:44to allow the sand to flow.
40:46Then the obelisk began
40:48to descend by its own weight.
40:50Held by rope,
40:52it straightened and ended up
40:54in a vertical position
40:56once the box was completely filled with sand.
40:58All that was left
41:00was to remove the boxes,
41:02access ramps and anchors
41:04and voila!
41:06The Egyptians gradually
41:08dominated these huge masses
41:10and it was a matter of labor,
41:12discipline and rigor.
41:14Of course,
41:16it was within reach of all human beings,
41:18especially of the ancient Egyptians.
41:22The obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut
41:24took seven months to be built
41:26and more than 2,000 workers
41:28participated.
41:30It was a titanic task.
41:32But the Egyptians
41:34didn't care about the magnitude of the work,
41:36because these granite needles
41:38crowned in gold
41:40were symbols of utmost importance.
41:42In Karnak, where the god of the sun
41:44Amon-Ra was worshipped,
41:46almost 20 obelisks were erected in his honor.
41:50The obelisks were originally
41:52a solar symbol.
41:54Their tips pierce the firmament,
41:56the upper part of the sky.
41:58They are supposed to establish
42:00contact between the earthly world
42:02and the celestial world.
42:04The question of contact
42:06between heaven and earth is always present,
42:08which is the purpose of the temples.
42:10It is like electricity,
42:12the more plugs you put,
42:14the stronger the connection
42:16with heaven will be.
42:20Like the obelisks,
42:22all the buildings of Karnak
42:24are decorated with engravings
42:26and stories that constitute
42:28a true open book
42:30on the civilization of ancient Egypt.
42:32Therefore, it is vital to restore
42:34the buildings and make them
42:36as faithful as possible
42:38to how they were originally.
42:40In architecture,
42:42this is known as anastilosis.
42:46Franco-Egyptian teams have been
42:48working for several years
42:50on the reconstruction of the walls
42:52of the patio of the hiding place,
42:54located on the south flank
42:56of the temple of Amon-Ra.
42:58The rediscovery of hundreds of blocks
43:00belonging to these walls
43:02has allowed us to anticipate
43:04a reconstruction of this space
43:06as it was during the reign
43:08of Ramses II,
43:10The blocks belonging
43:12to these ruined buildings
43:14met in the 1980s
43:16and the works began
43:18in several parts,
43:20including the eastern wall,
43:22which my predecessor completed
43:24from 2016 to 2018.
43:26The works were resumed
43:28in 2021.
43:30All the blocks have been stored
43:32in front of the new construction area,
43:34where we can lift them
43:36with an all-terrain mobile crane
43:38and place them in their original location.
43:42A team of restorers
43:44reinforced the blocks before the construction,
43:46so they can now be manipulated
43:48without risk.
43:50However, placing them
43:52precisely in the masonry
43:54is still a particularly delicate task.
43:56For this reason,
43:58no anastilosis work
44:00is carried out without an exhaustive
44:02preliminary study,
44:04which combines photogrammetry,
44:06and virtual reassembly.
44:08From this work,
44:10the restorers recover precise
44:12plans of reordering
44:14with alignment markers.
44:16With our reassembly plans,
44:18we can use horizontal
44:20or vertical lines.
44:22As can be seen in the block,
44:24we have three lines.
44:26Now we are going to adjust the block
44:28that we are placing
44:30to the previous three lines.
44:32We can also use vertical lines
44:34of the Ramses symbol, for example.
44:36Here, for example,
44:38there are three aligned branches,
44:40and in this corner here,
44:42we can align the back of the crown.
44:46Patiently and with millimetric precision,
44:48three or four pieces
44:50of the puzzle are replaced
44:52every day.
44:56Among these blocks,
44:58the missing parts are filled
45:00with stone masonry
45:02Finally,
45:04the restorers scrupulously
45:06clean the sculpted pieces
45:08so that the engravings
45:10are as legible as possible.
45:12Cataplasms of clay are applied
45:14to absorb the dirt
45:16embedded in the deepest part
45:18of the stone,
45:20revealing some traces of color.
45:24Although the walls of the patio
45:26of the hiding place
45:28look discreetly,
45:30we can see the temple,
45:32revealing the importance of color
45:34in antiquity.
45:36You have to imagine
45:38that at that time,
45:40the whole temple of Karnak
45:42was painted.
45:44It was something common.
45:46The walls, the decorations,
45:48and even the statues were painted.
45:50To admire these colorful representations,
45:52the great hypostyle room
45:54is undoubtedly the place
45:56where the visitor must stop.
45:58It is very interesting.
46:00We are carrying out
46:02a huge restoration work
46:04of color.
46:06We are amazed to see
46:08that many of the engravings
46:10retain their original colors.
46:12We are simply cleaning the dust
46:14and the dust that has accumulated
46:16on the surface.
46:18The result is magnificent
46:20and reveals all the colors
46:22of the temple.
46:24For more than a year,
46:26some 70 people have been working
46:28on this incredible project.
46:30Due to 10 days of work per column,
46:32the hypostyle room
46:34gradually regains its colors,
46:36created with natural pigments
46:38some 3,300 years ago.
46:42The cleaning process,
46:44essentially mechanical,
46:46with brushes, scalpels, or cloths,
46:48requires extreme skill
46:50to remove the thick layer
46:52of dust without damaging
46:54the underlying color.
46:58Finally,
47:00a fixing product is applied
47:02to protect the pigments
47:04from the rain and the sun
47:06so that they can be removed again.
47:08The hypostyle room
47:10is the architectural jewel
47:12of the temple of Amon-Ra,
47:14with its 134 columns
47:16that regain their former splendor
47:18day after day.
47:20It was the work of the pharaoh Ramses II,
47:22and all the works initiated
47:24by his father Seti I.
47:26The dimensions and volumes
47:28of this room
47:30are undoubtedly
47:32what most impresses the visitor.
47:34It is a huge monument.
47:36I think that every visitor
47:38who enters this place
47:40for the first time
47:42has perhaps a feeling of smallness.
47:44You feel small in front of all this.
47:46You have to imagine
47:48that in the hypostyle room
47:50it is more than 20 meters high.
47:52It is a forest of monumental columns,
47:54which makes Karnak
47:56a truly gigantic temple.
47:58The great hypostyle room
48:00is located between the second
48:02and the third pylons.
48:04It is 103 meters long
48:06and 53 meters wide,
48:08and has 134 columns
48:10in 16 rows.
48:12The columns of the central crux
48:14are taller and wider
48:16than those of the lateral cruxes.
48:18They reach a height
48:20of 23 meters.
48:22Their trusses have a diameter
48:24of 3 meters at the base
48:26and end in a bellowed capitel
48:28of 5 meters in diameter.
48:30The other columns
48:32of the room reach
48:34a height of 15 meters
48:36and have a diameter
48:38of 2.5 meters.
48:40In the time of Ramses II,
48:42the room was covered
48:44by more than 5,000 square meters
48:47At that time,
48:49the hypostyle room
48:51was covered by a roof.
48:53The lighting was scarce
48:55and concentrated
48:57on the central axis of it.
48:59The light entered
49:01through the chandeliers.
49:03The rest of this gigantic space
49:05was shrouded in shadows,
49:07so it was a dark forest
49:09of stones.
49:11Perhaps even a little disturbing.
49:13A mysterious place
49:15in the end.
49:17During the religious processions,
49:19the hypostyle room
49:21was the place of revelation.
49:23The place where the holy boat
49:25of the god emerged
49:27from the temple entrances
49:29finally appeared
49:31before the Egyptian people.
49:33But how did the builders
49:35of the time build
49:37such an impressive room?
49:39How did they manage
49:41to raise blocks of several tons
49:43of elevation
49:45to such dizzying heights?
49:47Surprisingly,
49:49the builders used a technique
49:51that allowed them to raise
49:53all the columns of the room
49:55simultaneously.
49:57To begin with,
49:59they placed the first
50:01134 blocks on the ground.
50:03Around them,
50:05they stacked adobe
50:07to form a temporary slab
50:09made of these first blocks
50:11with a slightly inclined slab.
50:13This facilitated the placement
50:15of the second blocks
50:17on top of the first ones.
50:21The operation was repeated
50:23on each additional level
50:25until reaching the last row of blocks.
50:27In this way,
50:29the columns were raised
50:31to a height of about 20 meters
50:33in the case of the highest ones.
50:35In the end,
50:37the Egyptians were ingenious
50:39because they didn't face
50:41the problems head-on
50:43as we did,
50:45but they found ways
50:47to overcome the difficulties
50:49and achieve the final result
50:51with solutions that
50:53seemed absurd to us
50:55because they were extremely expensive
50:57in time and materials.
50:59But in the end,
51:01time, materials and human resources
51:03were not a problem.
51:05Once the columns were raised,
51:07architraves of about 5.30 meters
51:09in length were placed
51:11on the capitals.
51:15Then the blocks
51:17that covered the roof
51:19as crossings were installed.
51:21The blocks that covered
51:23the lateral spaces
51:25were placed perpendicularly
51:27to the others.
51:29The light bulbs resting
51:31on these blocks
51:33could be raised
51:35The central crossings
51:37had architraves of more than
51:397 meters in length
51:41on which the largest blocks
51:43completed the roof.
51:45Once the stone elements
51:47were placed
51:49up to the top of the temple,
51:51only the fillings
51:53and access ramps were left.
51:55A few years ago,
51:57it was thought that during this operation
51:59the faces of the blocks
52:01were also polished.
52:03Today we are not so sure.
52:05And it is more likely
52:07that they used light wooden scaffolding
52:09to make the decoration
52:11of the blocks.
52:13These were placed after
52:15the heavy scaffolding
52:17of the brick and the fillings
52:19had been completely removed.
52:21The history of the hypostyle room,
52:23whose decorations are shown again in color,
52:25is a perfect example of the commitment
52:27of scientists to the conservation
52:29of this invaluable heritage.
52:31The temples of Karnak,
52:33symbols of the power
52:35of the greatest pharaohs
52:37of ancient Egypt,
52:39continue to represent
52:41an architectural program
52:43of enormous proportions
52:45that these experts
52:47will never finish exploring
52:49and restoring.
52:51At present, it is estimated
52:53that less than 10%
52:55of the surface of Karnak
52:57has been excavated and studied.
52:59A century working there.
53:01It is a temple, but inside
53:03there is also a collection of texts,
53:05a set of knowledge
53:07of rituals and philosophies.
53:09And our duty here
53:11is to understand, restore,
53:13preserve and transmit.
53:17The settlement of Karnak
53:19has become a must-visit
53:21for lovers of antiquity.
53:23In high season
53:25it receives an average
53:27of 3,000 daily visitors
53:29who are fascinated
53:31by the splendor of this complex,
53:33built for the glory of the gods
53:35on a surface of more than 40 hectares.
53:37To this day,
53:39and for several millennia,
53:41Karnak remains
53:43the largest temple in the world.