EGYPTIAN AECHITECTURE: MIDDLE

KINGDOM
( 2130 - 1580 B.C.)
MIDDLE KINGDOM (2130 - 1580 B.C.)

• started when Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II reunified Upper and Lower Egypt,

paving the way for a second Renaissance of Egyptian art.
• Thebes emerged as a major town for the first time, serving as both capital and
artistic center during the Eleventh Dynasty.
• Pyrammids are still most important royal furenary building.
• Two kings, Intef and Mentuhotep regained order and reinstated the supreme rule
of the Egyptian Pharaoh.
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE

• GEOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCE
Egyp is known as the “The Land of Pharaoh”, and “Desert land”. The “Nile
River” is their means of communication, highway, and lifelne.Egypt’s greatest wealth
was it’s fertile soil.
CLIMATIC INFLUENCE
Structure have no downspot, drainage, gutters due to absence of rain. No
windows to cut heat penetration and sandstorm.
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE

• RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE
Pyramis were built because they believ in “life after death” and for the
preservation of the dead body. Pharaoh is not only king but also “god” both
political and religious ruler, when he dies he become “osiris”, god of dead.They
are “monotheistic”in theory and “polythiestic” in practice.
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE
• GEOLOGICAL INFLUENCE
Stone- abundant building material except on temples and pyramids.
Soft stone- limestone, sandstone, alabaster.
Hard stone- granite, quartzie, basalt, poryphyry.
Sand dried bricks-made up of clay chopped stone for pyramidsand temples.
Date palm- for roofing
Palm leaves- for roofing material.
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE

• HISTORICAL INFLENCE
30 DYNASTIES – Started from 3rd millenium B.C. To roman period. Egypt
was pat of Persin Empire for 2 centuries before the invasion of “Alexander the
Great”.
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE
• SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE
Monarchy- form of government.
Pharaoh- king of Egypt.
Son of pharaoh- normal sucessor of the throne.
Vizier- king’s most powerful official.
Chancelor-he controls the royal teassuries, granaries, supervises the census.
Chief steward-in charge of the king’s personal estate and houshold.
Social ranks:
1. Noble families- royal throne with his family
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCE

2. Soldiers, viziers, chancelors, chief steward- next to leader

3. Fishermen, farmers, craftsmen, merchans- ordinary Egyptian.
4.Slaves- lowest form
MENTUHOTEP'S MORTUARY
COMPLEX
• The first great example of Egyptian architecture of
the period. Loosely based on the tombs of his Theban
ancestors. Constructed against the spectacular sheer
cliffs of western Thebes, its central feature was a
terraced temple with pillared porticoes. Its
decorations included a range of painted relief
sculpture, carved in a distinctive Theban style, which
are now considered by scholars to be among the
finest ever produced in Ancient Egypt.
THE PYRAMID COMPLEXES OF THE TWELFTH DYNASTY
KINGS
When Amenemhet I (1938–1909 b.c.e.) moved the Egyptian
capital back to the Memphis area from Thebes, he
established a new town called Itj-tawy ("Seizer of the Two
Lands"). No one has yet discovered the location of Itjtawy,
though it likely was close to Lisht, the site of Amenemhet I's
pyramid.
Amenemhet I' s Pyramid at Lisht.

Senwosret III (1836–1818 b.c.e.) built his pyramid

complex at Dahshur, the site first occupied by King
Sneferu at the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty
(2626–2585 b.c.e.).

The Pyramid Complex of Senwosret III.

 .

The Pyramid of Senwosret I at Lisht Today the pyramid of Senwosret I (1919–1875

b.c.e.) is a 23-meter (75-foot) high mound of mud brick.
Originally the pyramid was 105 meters (344 feet) square at
the base and 61.26 meters (201 feet) high. The Great
Pyramid was more than twice as high and twice as wide at
the base than Senwosret's pyramid, but the smaller size is
similar to the pyramids built in the Fifth and Sixth
Dynasties. The construction of Senwosret's pyramid was
innovative, but represents a wrong turn in construction
techniques.
PROVINCIAL TOMBS OF THE TWELFTH DYNASTY
NOMARCHS

• Apart from its kings, the Twelfth Dynasty also had its feudal nobility, the princely
families of Middle and Upper Egypt who constituted an influential and largely
independent power. Near their provincial capitals on the gently or steeply sloping
flanks of the hills that fringed the Nile Valley they also built rock tombs, some of
which vied in lavishness, and independence of design with the mortuary complexes of
the kings. Because of their excellent state of preservation they add greatly to our
understanding of the tomb architecture of the period.
 The tomb of Prince Sirenpowet II on the west bank
The rock tombs at Beni Hasan in Middle
near Aswan is a grandiose example of the axial plan
Egypt reflect the Lower Egyptian
oriented strictly east and west. From the lofty three-
concept of the tomb as a representative
aisled entrance hall, with its flat ceiling and square
eternal "abode" and "residence" of the
pillars, one continues westward over low steps that
dead.
lead to a long passageway with a low-vaulted roof,
ending in the cult chamber
In their architectural plan, the most highly
developed of the princely tombs are those at
Qaw el Kebir (east bank, south of Assiut). From
a broad columned forehall built of brick at the
foot of the hill a covered causeway led up to
the mortuary complexes; these are in many
stories that overlap the slopes, and through
open stairways the cliff spaces are linked with
screened forecourts, pillared halls, and
sanctuaries in wide hollowed-out halls.
THE TEMPLES
From the Middle Kingdom there are more important remains
of temples than from the Old Kingdom. They were frequently,
even in the Twelfth Dynasty, still constructed of brick, and
through later renovations in stone their remains, though
widely scattered throughout the land, are scanty indeed and
often insufficient to permit an intelligible reconstruction of the
plans. Nonetheless, it is clear from the little that survives that
the architecture of the Middle Kingdom put into effect certain
new ideas that were to have a decisive influence on the future
organization of the sanctuaries of the gods
. Anunusual feature of the small temple built by Amenemhat III and IV on the edge of
the Fayum at Medinet Madi is the antechamber supported by two papyrus-bundle
columns between side walls extended to the front to protect the entrance. Inside, the
arrangement of the three shrines for the statues of the gods honors a tradition going
back to the time of the pyramids.
PYLONS

• The two-towered "pylon," so characteristic of the

monumental entrances of the walled temples after
the beginning of the New Kingdom, has its origins in
the Middle Kingdom, as excavations at Hermopolis
have shown. The pylon towers were probably the
end result of a process of thickening and raising the
front walls of large courts on either side of a lower
entrance gate