Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-03-23
COURT STATUES TEMPLE RAMESES


llreeunn OF Geor-
ges Legrdin, restoration which is this
moment in progress "a word as to the
scene Of these magnificent operationsD
II is the site of Thebes. the city OF
100 gates, the great metropolis OF an
tient Egypt, the home of kings. On
the left bank Of the Nile rise the ruins
Of Karnak and Luxor, on the right
those Of Goumah and Mediret-Abon.
Arouhd them, stretching into the des-
ert are monuments of less Importance
which make the vast plain where this
wonderful ancient city stood a GEM
etery Of granite colossi. Laid waste
by the Persans under Cambyses, by
fanatical Arabs and by the equally
fanat!cal Christians Of Egypt, racked
and torn by earthquakes and floods.
the Sphinx, the gigantic columns and
the obelisks, still raise their proud
fronts TO the sun, silent witnesses Of
the strength and grandeur of a lost
ieivilization.
The great temple of Karnak was
raised in honor OF Anon, the Egyptian
god OF generation. Twenty-four thou
sand years before Christ the first
sanetuary to the god was built by
Osirtaser l. Like the Delphic temple
IN Greece this temple became imme-
olately the national monument Of
Egypt and every sovereign OF each sue
ceeding dynasty had but one great aim
70 mark his reign by beautifying the
temples which had been erected by his
predecessors or by constructing new
ollldlngs, whose size and dignity
mould eclipse all those which had
peen raised by countless toiling slaves
of former kings.
II was this ambition which drove
incutmes II. TO raise the obellsks, mar
'eis OF airy grace, one of which stands
1ooay in New York, one in London
snd one in Paris. 1t was this which
impelled his son, Thoutmes H., to
ouiid the famous palace, to rebuild in
granite the more modern sanctuary of
o>'''aser and to construct the massive
Promenade with which his name Is
associated by Egyptologists and which
n form Is the pillar and Intel" pro-
.otype Of the galleries or side aisles Of
10e stately cathedrals Of early Gothic
architecture.
Under the various Rameses came
ae apotheosis Of Egyptian archi-
1''ufe. The temple, with Its roof
tupported by forest Of pillars, was
leir achievement, and the construc-
uon OF the pyramids seems no less the
sOrk OF Titanic beings than these be-
.haering commands dimly lit by win
oNs IN the roof simply made by omit
Ing columns and their supporting
aos OF stone here and there in the
raS' sanctuary. Never has this work.
baipieted by Rameses III, 1900 years
eiore Christ, surpassed. Three CEN
ul,es later the last Of the Pharaohs
Ieavofed in vain to surpass this
@s inimi'sale chef d'oeuvre. Their
MN, go the new hypostyle, as this grand
IN, ~ie or architecture is termed. re-
e,ad ed unfinished. Eight columns
1, ae m rise In gloomy majesty. witnesses
eible. " achieVe the lmpos-
mn 0n.l 1895 the temple was three.
H. 'eFs buried under a mountain Of
No. accumulated debris of centuries
k,a ,e' tho archaeological genius.
r,, ROT think it could be removed
r. nou, ,. collapse of the structure up-
.imu, M, Lesrain took charge and by the
frda means OF inclined planes and
Iens, aerricEs OF wood worked by the
& M Without the aid of steam pow
~ uAs done the proclaimed impos-