Architecture. Зайцева И.В. - 18 стр.

      2.2 Who doesn’t dream about travelling to Egypt? We think all the
architects do. So let’s read the text and have a wonderful journey

                                            Text 2A

                                    Egyptian Architecture

       The architecture of Egypt developed from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the Roman
period. During this period artist and craftsmen were drawn to the court to work under
the patronage of the King and his great nobles. Techniques of the working in stone,
wood and metal made tremendous progress. The most outstanding achievements of this
period are massive funerary monuments and temples build of stone for permanence,
featuring only post-and lintel construction, corbel vaults without arches or vaulting, and
pyramids. This architecture gave the world the earliest building in dressed stone,
invented the column, capital and cornice. Features characteristic of the ancient Egyptian
architecture also include the obelisk, the steeply battered pylon, the symbolical lotus
column, and incised relief decoration without any structural relevance.
       The pyramids of the Old Kingdom, majestically planted on the desert edge, are
the most spectacular of all funerary works and the only remained wonder of the world.
The world’s first large-scale monument in stone is Zoser’s necropolis at Sahara, built it
2766 B.C. by the Imhotep, the earliest named architect. These monuments celebrated
the divinity of the kings of Egypt, linking the people with the great gods of earth and
sky.
       During the prosperous period know as the Middle Kingdom fortresses were built
to defend the southern and eastern borders. Craftsmen achieved new levels of
excellence. Very little architecture remains, but what has survived shows great
simplicity and refinement, less durable materials were used. The example is the pyramid
of Sesostris I at Lisht.
       Great buildings began to be erected once again in the New Kingdom(1570-1085
B.C.), marking new blossoming of the arts and crafts of ancient Egypt. The kings gave
encouragement to artists and craftsmen by ordering great temples and palaces to be built
throughout Egypt. The temple walls were covered with reliefs celebrating the
achievements of the kings and the power of the gods. The most notable monuments are
the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatsheput (the only woman –pharaoh) at Deir el Bahari,
with its pillared halls, colonnades, and gigantic ramps connecting the different levels;
the magnificent Great Temple at Karnak devoted to Amon as the universal god of
Egypt.
       The final revival took place under the rule of the Ptolemies, the successors of
Alexander the great, who built numerous temples of traditional style but slightly more
elegant and less crushingly inhuman. The finest examples that survive are the Temple of
Horus at Eftu and the temples on the islands of Philae.