The Karnak Temple is located on the east side of the Nile, just north of the Temple of Luxor. The temple of Karnak was known as Ipet-isut (most select of places) by the ancient Egyptians. It is a city of temples built over 2000 years and dedicated to the Theben triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu.
This derelict place is still capable of overshadowing many of the wonders of the modern world, and in its day must have been awe inspiring.
For the ancient Egyptian population this could only have been the place of the gods. It is the mother of all religious buildings, the largest ever made, and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4,000 years. Today's pilgrims however are mainly tourists.
It covers about 200 acres - 1.5km by 0.8km. The area of the sacred enclosure of Amun alone is 61 acres, and would hold ten average-sized European cathedrals. The Hypostyle hall, at 54,000 square feet, and with its 134 columns (the tallest of the 134 columns reaches a height of 23 meters) is still the largest room of any religious building in the world. In this enormous forest of columns you get a genuine feeling of the wealth of the New Kingdom and of the importance of Amun as the State-God.
Karnak is the home of the God Amun who was an insignificant local god until the 12th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of Egypt. He was represented in his original state as a goose and later as a ram; and at the height of his power he was shown as a human with a head dress of feathers - all that remained of the goose.
All ancient Egyptian temples had a sacred lake, but the Karnak's is the largest. It was used during festivals when images of the Gods would sail across it on golden barges.
The water supply to the lake, which symbolized the primeval ocean Nun, comes directly from the Nile. Next to the lake is a small café where you can pit stop in the shade and fantasize about the temple in its golden ages.