Karnak

Karnak

Pillars of the Great Hypostyle Hall from the Precinct of Amun-Re
Shown within Egypt
Location	El-Karnak, Luxor Governorate, Egypt
Region	Upper Egypt
Coordinates	25°43′6″N 32°39′30″E / 25.71833°N 32.65833°E / 25.71833; 32.65833
Type	Sanctuary
Part of	Thebes
History
Builder	Senusret I–Nectanebo I
Material	Stone
Founded	c. 1970 BCE
Periods	Middle Kingdom to Ptolemaic Kingdom
Site notes
Condition	Ruin
Public access	Yes
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis
Type	Cultural
Criteria	I, III, VI
Designated	1979 (3rd session)
Reference no.	87
Region	Arab states

The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (/ˈkɑːr.næk/),^[1] comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BCE) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the 18th Dynastic Theban Triad, with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes, and in 1979 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the rest of the city.^[2] Karnak gets its name from the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.