For those seeking a more intimate connection with ancient Egyptian sacred spaces, the Open Air Museum at Karnak offers a remarkable opportunity. Here lies the White Chapel of Senusret I, a monument of exceptional craftsmanship and historical significance.
Экскурсия в Луксор из Шарм Эль Шейх. Нюансы и программа. Экскурсии 2025.
White Chapel of Senusret I at Karnak.
Historical Context
The White Chapel of Senusret I, also referred to as the Jubilee Chapel of Senusret I, was constructed during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Specifically, it was built by Senusret I, the second ruler of Dynasty 12, during the period from approximately 1971-1926 B.C.E.
Senusret I enjoyed a long, prosperous reign of approximately 45 years and invested in an extensive architectural program, building stone structures at nearly all existing cult sites and other established ritual locations/religious sanctuaries across Egypt. Senusret I was one of the earliest kings to build a major sanctuary for the God Amun-Re at Karnak.
Senusret I was known by his prenomen, Kheperkare, which means "the Ka of Re is created". During his long reign, Senusret I sent several quarrying expeditions to Sinai and Wadi Hammamat, as well as building countless shrines and temples throughout Egypt and Nubia.
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He specifically renovated prominent Old Kingdom sites-recognizing the importance of linking with the past. Amun-Re was rising in prominence during this time along with the region of Thebes (the family who reunited Egypt under a single ruler during the Middle Kingdom originated in this area).
Original Function and Location
It is unknown exactly where the White Chapel originally stood, but it was likely outside the main enclosure wall of the temple complex to Amun-Re and oriented along a processional route. The chapel was created as the ceremonial kiosk for King Senusret I to sit enthroned during his rejuvenating heb-sed festival (a jubilee festival that occurred after a king had ruled for 30 years intended to show their continued strength and ability to govern). In addition, his choice to perform his heb-sed in this location was telling. By shifting the location away from the traditional political capital of Memphis.
The white chapel may originally have functioned as a festival kiosk where the king could sit on a double thrown. Holes in the floor between the four central columns indicate the use of poles to hang banners hiding the king from the public eyes. One scholar has suggested that after the end of the jubilee festival, statues of the king were placed in the kiosk to sit on the double throne.
Architectural Features
Somewhere in the forecourt of his Amun temple, Senusret erected the small limestone shrine named the “Throne of Horus,” which is now referred to as the White Chapel. This marvelous chapel is nearly square in floor plan and set on a high base with stepped ramps on two sides, and includes a total of sixteen pillars. The building is an almost square (6.8 x 6.45 metres) platform with a shallow staircase with a central ramp at either end. The shrine has four interior pillars surrounded by a peristyle of twelve pillars.
The columns all measure 2.6 meters height and are 0.6 meters across and 0.6 meters deep. The platform on which the columns rest is 1.2 meters high and almost square at 6.8 meters by 6.5 meters. Between the outer pillars is a low balustrade with a rounded top. The monument is distinguished by its exceptional limestone reliefs, well-preserved hieroglyphic inscriptions, and precise architectural proportions, making it one of the finest examples of Middle Kingdom craftsmanship.
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View of one side of the White Chapel, showing the curved cornice and decorative water spout.
Relief Decorations
This elegant and delicately carved chapel is covered on nearly every surface with extraordinary relief scenes that were intended to rejuvenate the king and reaffirm his ability to rule. The exceptional decoration on the pillars records the heb-sed jubilee festival of Senusret I in raised relief. Relief on the White Chapel goes beyond the usual, however, and even tiny interior elements of the hieroglyphs, including all the small details of things like feathers, crowns, and jewelry, were actually carved into the stone.
The iconography of these scenes is rich and elaborate, with incredibly minute carving and extremely detailed renderings of the imagery. The hieroglyphs carved on the White Chapel are executed with such intricacy that we can discern each scale on the snakes and each feather on the birds. The details are utterly fascinating and telling: the enigmatic ankh symbol reveals itself to be a specially wrapped cloth; every element of this fan, including the scene carved on its central section, is carefully depicted.
Ankh symbol, fan, scarab beetle and lizard, White Chapel of Senusret I at Karnak.
The scenes on the base are of particular interest as they refer to an important survey of Egypt’s main features and locations that was carried out by Senusret I. The base includes depictions of different personifications of natural features, like the Nile, and other important chapels. On the outside, carved figures personifying the Nile and carrying the names of various districts and buildings founded by Senusret decorated the two ends of the pavilion, flanking the stairways, while the sides carried lists of the nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt along with some geographical information including records of the heights of the Nile flood.
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The sunk relief scenes on the east and west sides of the chapel’s base depict personifications of the river Nile, lakes and other chapels. The north and south sides of the base record the nomes (the regional areas of ancient Egypt) and their measurements. All along the base of the outer walls runs a series of reliefs depicting the emblems and deities of the nomes, or provinces, of Egypt.
The central theme in the decoration of the pillars involves the pharaoh and Amun who takes the form of the fertility god Min. The god stands mummiform and with an enormous erection on top of a rectangular pedestal. He wears a double feather crown on his head and carries a flail, a symbol of kingship. Behind the god is a fenced enclosure with tall heads of romaine (or cos) lettuce, considered aparticularly potent aphrodisiac by the ancient Egyptians and thus a symbol of fertility.
In other scenes, the god is in his more usual guise and offers the king, led by Re-Horakhty, the ankh symbol of life. The king is shown wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt, the Red Crown of the Delta or the double crown of all Egypt-rituals involving the pharaoh in all three roles were important parts of the sed-festival.
Later Use and Reconstruction
Later kings converted the chapel into a bark shrine (a ritually pure location where a god’s divine bark (ship) could be set down during festival parades so the priests could rest-a necessary fixture along processional routes). During the reign of 12th Dynasty kings Amenemhat III or Amenemhat IV, the white chapel was converted into a bark shrine. One of the major features of many ancient Egyptian festivals were processions of small sculptures of divine figures. These usually stayed in the innermost sanctuary of the temple, where they received daily ritual actions.
The White Chapel was dismantled during the early Eighteenth Dynasty and the blocks were included in the foundation of the massive Third Pylon that now forms the back wall of the (later) Great Hypostyle Hall. Amenhotep III (reigned 1390 BCE to 1352 BCE) dismantled the white chapel during his renovation of the area around the festival hall of Thutmose II and used it as fill in his newly constructed Pylon III.
In 1924, the repair of the Third Pylon was undertaken. During this work, around 950 blocks from a total of eleven different structures were found used as fill within the pylon. While some blocks had been damaged, many preserved astonishingly beautiful relief carving. In 1927, the dismantled pieces were found inside the Third Pylon of the main temple, constructed in the time of Amenhotep III, at Karnak, and between 1927 and 1930 all of the pieces were carefully removed. These components were subsequently combined to form the structure that may be seen today at the Karnak Open Air Museum.
Material and Decoration
The White Chapel is made of limestone. Traces of paint-including yellow, blue, red, and white-survive on the cornice, so the White Chapel was also painted in addition to being thoroughly covered in relief. Some traces of yellow paint still exist on the structure’s cornices; red, blue, and white paint traces can be found on the columns and hieroglyphs.
The White Chapel Today
Now located in the Open Air Museum at Karnak, scholars debate where the temple once stood in Antiquity. Although virtually nothing stands of the Amun Temple of Senwosret I, by pure chance one of his other buildings, a real architectural jewel known as the White Chapel, can be seen in the Open Air Museum at the site.
Square peg holes can be seen in the stonework, most likely for the attaching sheets of hammered gold over some of it.
The altar within the chapel today is of rose granite and probably dates to the time of Amenemhat III or Amenemhat IV. At first it was assumed that it was a barque shrine, where the boat carrying the statue of the god would rest temporarily, and it has been restored with a pink granite pedestal of the appropriate height.
The model of the white chapel was based on the plan and axial drawings of Carlotti (1995: pls. IX-X). The white chapel was systematically photographed in the Open Air Museum so that each face of the building could be reconstructed on the model as it appears today at Karnak. A blank limestone pattern was added to the areas that could not be photographed.
Detail of Amun’s feathered costume on the White Chapel of Senusret I at Karnak.
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