Osiride statues in the court of the temple of Ramses III. Karnak, Egypt

"Sheshonq (Shoshenq) I enlarged the Amun (Amon) temple at Karnak by adding a huge festival court in front of the Ramesside pylon. Virtually following Ramesside architectural tradition, the court was flanked on both sides by colonnades and enclosed the ramesside festival arena with the bark stations of Sethos (Seti) II and Ramesses (Ramses) III." [Arnold D., 1999: Temples of the Last Pharaohs. Oxford University Press]. "To the right is the entrance to the small temple of Ramesses III. In reality it was an elaborate barque shrine designed as a miniature version of that king's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu. The structure's first court is thus lined with Osiride statues of the king, and the walls are decorated with various festival scenes and texts." [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 in April 1962, visiting Egypt.