Karnak was the religious heart of the New Kingdom, the “most select of places” where Amun-Ra was worshipped. Almost every pharaoh from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemies added a pylon, chapel or obelisk.
Its Great Hypostyle Hall, completed under Seti I and Ramesses II, contains 134 columns; the twelve central ones stand about 21 metres high. Hatshepsut’s surviving obelisk is one of the tallest ancient obelisks still standing.
