Hypostyle
Hypostyl (also Hypostylon or Hypostylos ) designates a hall in architecture with a flat ceiling supported by columns .
definition
The name Hypostyl comes from the Greek and means "resting on pillars". In Greece, the hypostyle only describes a large hall, the ceiling of which has to be supported with columns or pillars because of the span.
In ancient Egypt , the hypostyle was used as a structural element from the New Kingdom onwards in sacred buildings, and occasionally also in secular buildings.
construction
The hypostyle stands transversely to the longitudinal axis of the temple and consists of a raised central nave and two lower aisles . The ceiling of a hypostyle is flat.
The central nave forms the passage from the forecourt into the interior of the temple, but in many temples the hypostyle is followed by a second columned hall. This passage is flanked on both sides by a row of columns, the columns of which are higher and have a larger diameter than those of the aisles. In the upper area of the walls of the central nave there are large ridge windows, which usually represent the only source of light in the hypostyle.
In the side aisles there are several rows of columns with lower, slimmer columns that are arranged across the longitudinal axis of the temple. The sparse incidence of light in the hypostyle gives the impression of an unlimited forest of pillars, especially in larger temples.
symbolism
In the representation of the microcosm of creation by the Egyptian temple itself, the hypostyle symbolized the reed swamp around the primeval hill . The use of papyrus capitals reinforced the viewer's impression of being in a forest of plants. In the Temple of Amun at Karnak , this symbolism was further developed by raising the 137 pillars on bases, reminiscent of the earth around the roots of papyrus plants. The large columns along the central axis are 23 m high and end in wide-open papyrus capitals, the other columns in closed papyrus capitals. In the Khnum Temple of Esna , the swamp symbolism was also reinforced by depicting insects on the column capitals. The architraves on the pillars and the ceiling represented the sky.
Secular building
The higher classes in Egypt also used the hypostyle in their homes. As in the temple, attention was paid to a sequence of rooms determined by tradition. Across the main courtyard one came into an open pillared hall, which was followed by a transverse reception hall. The following main room was mostly built in the form of a four-column hypostyle hall.
literature
- Werner Müller: dtv-Atlas architecture. Volume 1: General Part. Building history from Mesopotamia to Byzantium (= dtv 3020). 15th revised edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-03020-5 .
- Hosam Refai: Investigations into the image program of the large halls of columns in the Theban temples of the New Kingdom (= publications by the Institutes for African Studies and Egyptology at the University of Vienna. Vol. 91 = Contributions to Egyptology. Vol. 18). Afro-Pub, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85043-091-X .
Individual evidence
- ^ Hypostyle . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 14 : Husband - Italic . London 1911, p. 208 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
