Beyond the southern side of the first court of Luxor Temple, the columns of the Colonnade Hall rise in the background. The ruined portico shelters standing figures of Ramesses II, and to the left of the central portal is a seated colossus, worshiped in ancient times as a deified statue of the divine king. Through this court, festal processions wended their way to the inner sanctuaries of the temple, particularly during the annual Festival of Opet, when the portable barks of the divine triad of Karnak were carried south for the celebrations at Luxor. The walls of the Colonnade Hall, now much destroyed, originally extended up to the height of the architraves atop the fourteen massive columns. The inner thicknesses of the doorway into the Colonnade, were originally recessed to receive the leaves of a giant door carved from Lebanese cedar. The photograph was taken about 1920: the huge cornice block in the center of the court and the lower walls of later buildings to the left have been cleared away.

• Silver gelatin on glass
• 23.5 x 29.5 cm
• $375.00