The Fourth Pylon was built by Thutmes I, repaired by Thutmes IV, and altered by Sety II, Ptolemy VIII, and Alexander the Great. Behind it, Thutmes I built a transverse hall (sometimes called a hyposytle hall or a colonnade). Huge statues of the king in the costume and pose of Osiris stand before the east walls of the north and south towers. Originally, the hall had a wooden roof supported by wooden columns. Wood was a precious commodity in ancient Egypt, and pieces of the size used here would have been especially valuable donations to the temple. Thutmes III later replaced the wood with fourteen stone columns and a stone roof.

The granite obelisk here is one of a pair erected by Hatshepsut in the sixteenth year of her reign. The other as broken up and scattered about Karnak. One piece, with scenes of the queen’s coronation, lies at the northwestern corner of the Sacred Lake. (No traces remain of two other obelisks Hatshepsut erected at Karnak.) The standing obelisk is 30 meters (97 feet) tall, 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) square, and weighs 323 tons. It was sheathed in electrum, a mixture of silver and gold. Hatshepsut and her engineers were proud of these huge monuments and the story of the work involved is recounted in scenes and texts in Hatshepsut’s temple at Dayr al-Bahri and in inscriptions on the obelisks themselves. With obvious pride the queen explained why she ordered such a massive project to be undertaken.

On the standing obelisk’s base she wrote: “I have done this with a loving heart for my father Amen...There was no sleep for me because of his temple...I was sitting in the palace and I remembered the one who created me; my heart directed me to make for him two obelisks of electrum, so that their pyramidions might mingle with the sky amid the august pillared hall between the great pylons of [Thutmes I]...They are each of one block of enduring granite without joint or flaw therein. My Majesty began work on them in regnal year 15, second month of winter, day 1, continuing until year 16, fourth month of summer, day 30, making 7 months in cutting them from the mountain....Let not anyone who hears this say it is boasting that I have said, but rather say, ‘How like her it is, she who is truthful to her father.’” After Hatshepsut’s death, Thutmes III had the obelisks walled up in a futile attempt to obliterate her memory. He only succeeded in protecting them from damage.

Little remains of the Fifth Pylon. It was also the work of Thutmes I, with alterations made by Thutmes III and Amenhetep III. In the reign of Thutmes III, the pylon served as the entrance to another transverse hall. That hall is badly ruined today, but in antiquity it contained twenty sixteensided columns and a row of Osirid statues along its eastern face. A statue of Amenhetep III sits before the left pylon tower. Two columned courts lie on the north and south.The Sixth Pylon was built by Thutmes III and its westface was inscribed with the names of 120 Syrian towns (on the left) and Nubian towns (on the right) conquered by his army. The gate is of red granite.

Small chambers flanking the vestibule immediately east of the Sixth Pylon are known as the Hall of Records of Thutmes III. Two huge heraldic pillars stand on the north side of the temple axis, one carved with a lotus flower, the symbol of Upper Egypt, the other with a papyrus, symbol of Lower Egypt. The red granite is of excellent quality and the workmanship unsurpassed. Remains of statues of the god Amen and the goddess Amenet, carved in the reign of Tutankhamen and usurped by Horemheb, stand nearby. Amen’s face is especially well modeled. Texts recounting events in the reign of Thutmes III are carved on the walls and continue into other parts of the building that surround the pink granite shrine of Philip Arrhidaeus a few meters to the east. In the Second Hall of Records, south of the shrine, these texts describe the king’s military activities and show him offering to Amen-Ra.

From" The Illustrated Guide to Luxor" by kent R.Weeks ,published by the American University in Cairo Press. Copyright © 2005 White Star S.p.a