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Ancient Egypt · Pharaohs and temples

Temple kiosk

An open pavilion of columns where priests could rest a god's shrine during festivals, or travelers could stop by the river.

Used for
Resting a god's shrine during festivals
Famous example
The White Chapel of Senusret I, Karnak
Later example
Trajan's Kiosk, Philae
Open to
Light and air on every side

Find it on the map

History A resting place for the gods

At big festivals, priests carried a statue of the god out of the temple in a small shrine shaped like a boat. Along the route stood open pavilions, or kiosks, where they could set the shrine down and rest. The White Chapel at Karnak, built for King Senusret I around 1950 BC, is one of these way stations. Later kings took it apart and used its blocks to fill a pylon; archaeologists found the pieces and rebuilt it in the 1930s.

Trajan's Kiosk at Philae, moved stone by stone to a new island to save it from the water. Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

History Saved from the water

Kiosks also stood at temple entrances and on river banks. Trajan's Kiosk on the island of Philae, built when Egypt was part of the Roman Empire, has 14 tall columns with flower-shaped tops. In the 1970s, Philae's temples were taken apart and rebuilt, stone by stone, on a higher island to save them from the rising water behind the Aswan High Dam.

The White Chapel of Senusret I at Karnak, a resting place for the god's boat. It was rebuilt from blocks found inside a later gateway. Photo: Marsupium, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Art In this artwork

This pavilion of lotus-topped columns around a small pool is the artist's idea. Real kiosks had similar columns with plant-shaped tops.

Look closer

  • Look at the tops of the columns.
  • Find the pool in the middle.

Think about it

  1. Why might a festival route need resting places?
  2. How would you move a whole temple to save it?
  3. Where do people rest along busy routes near you?

Key words

Kiosk
An open pavilion with columns.
Shrine
A small holy place for a god's statue.
Procession
A group moving along a route for a ceremony.

Sources

The history on this page is a short summary based on these sources:

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Karnak"
  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre, "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae"
  • Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt (2000)

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