Ruins of pylon at the sacral complex of Amon. Karnak, Egypt

"The massive structure of the completed pylons clearly served a defensive and apotropaic function, not only physically defending the gateway from intruders, but also symbolically standing as a bastion repelling the inimical forces of chaos and evil in the outer world." [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 (Amun), 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.