Los antiguos egipcios creían que su poderoso dios, Amón, vivía en el interior de los impresionantes templos que ellos construían en su nombre. Y los más sagrados de todos ellos eran los imponentes monumentos construidos en Tebas, la histórica capital del Imperio Nuevo de Egipto.
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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.