The Great Hypostyle Hall at the temple of Amon. Karnak, Egypt

"The second pylon opens into the Great Hypostyle Hall, the most impressive part of the whole Karnak complex. A veritable forest in stone, the hall was filled with 134 papyrus columns, the centre 12 being larger and with open capitals, the remaining 122 along the sides smaller with closed capitals." [Wilkinson R., 2000: The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson]. "A village on East bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt; with Luxor, Karnak is on the site of ancient Thebes; location of temple of Amen, considered one of the finest examples of early New Kingdom religious architecture; also has many Middle Kingdom remains." [The J.P.Getty Fund: Thesaurus of Geographic Names]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was working on "The Nile" project and traveled to Africa from March 14, 1961 to March 31, 1961, visiting Egypt.