White Chapel

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White Chapel of Senusret I

Currently reconstructed in the Karnak Open Air Museum, the White Chapel (more properly called the Temple of Jubilee of Senusret I) was built during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Some time during the New Kingdom reconstructions of the temple, it was demolished and used as filler for the Third Pylon of the Precinct of Amun-Re^[1]. The pieces were found inside the Third pylon, constructed in the time of Amenhotep III, at Karnak. The white Chapel is also known as the Jubilee Chapel and is made of a hard white rock called alabaster. Its columns hold reliefs of a very high quality, which are hardly seen elsewhere at Karnak, and depicts Pharaoh Senusret being crowned and embraced by Amun, Horus, Min and Ptah.

All along the base of the outer walls runs a series of reliefs depicting the Sepat (Gr: Nome) [Provinces] ensigns and deities; on the western side the ones for Upper Egypt, on the eastern the ones for Lower Egypt.