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Concept
Ancient Egyptian architecture
Summary
Spanning over three thousand years, ancient Egypt was not one stable civilization but in constant change and upheaval, commonly split into periods by historians. Likewise, ancient Egyptian architecture is not one style, but a set of styles differing over time but with some commonalities.
The best known example of ancient Egyptian architecture are the Egyptian pyramids, while excavated temples, palaces, tombs, and fortresses have also been studied. Most buildings were built of locally available mud brick and limestone by paid laborers and craftsmen. Monumental buildings were built using the post and lintel method of construction. Many buildings were aligned astronomically. Columns were typically adorned with capitals decorated to resemble plants important to Egyptian civilization, such as the papyrus plant.
Ancient Egyptian architectural motifs have influenced architecture elsewhere, reaching the wider world first during the Orientalizing period and again during the nineteenth-century Egyptomania.
Medinet Habu 2016-03-23g.jpg|Winged sun on a [[cavetto]] from the Medinet Habu temple complex. The winged sun represents a form of the falcon god [[Horus]], son of [[Isis]], triumphant over his enemies. The image was also a common protective device over temple entrances
Philae temple at night.jpg|The well preserved Temple of Isis from [[Philae]] (Egypt), with a [[pylon (architecture)|pylon]] (a [[monument]]al [[gate]] of an [[Egyptian temple]])
Due to the scarcity of wood, the two predominant building materials used in ancient Egypt were sun-baked mud brick and stone, mainly limestone, but also sandstone and granite in considerable quantities. From the Old Kingdom onward, stone was generally reserved for tombs and temples, while bricks were used even for royal palaces, fortresses, the walls of temple precincts and towns, and for subsidiary buildings in temple complexes. The core of the pyramids consisted of locally quarried stone, mud bricks, sand or gravel.
Official source
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