Statue in the Festival Temple of Thutmose III at the temple of Amon. Karnak, Egypt

"Beyond the central court is the relatively complete Festival Temple ot Tuthmosis III. Tuthmosis built this small complex as a kind of memorial to himself and his ancestral cult and called it the 'Most Splendid of Monuments'. The roof of the temple's great columned hall is supported around its perimeter by square pillars, but in the central section by curiously shaped columns imitating ancient tent poles. Although this tent-pole architecture may recall ancient religious booths, it is perhaps more likely that it symbolizes the military tents so familiar to this great warrior pharaoh. Temple statues certainly served as a memorial to the deceased individuals they portrayed and allowed their owners to be perpetually present in the sacred area. In Middle Kingdom times the statues were almost always of men." [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 on assignment for American Institute of Architects, directing the Egyptian portion of the documentary on Ancient Egypt, March 1965 and September 1965.