Multimedia: UCLA's Digital Karnak brings ancient Egyptian temple complex to life
Digital Karnak is a three-dimensional virtual-reality model that runs in real time and allows users to navigate 2,000 years of history at the ancient Egyptian religious site Karnak, one of the largest temple complexes ever constructed. Today, the site — where generations of pharaohs constructed temples, obelisks, sphinxes and other sacred structures beginning in the 20th century B.C. — is a popular tourist destination near modern-day Luxor.
Developed by UCLA's Experiential Technologies Center, the Digital Karnak model and a host of additional digital resources are now available for students, scholars and the public to explore for free at http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak.
VIDEOS
Below is a sampling of QuickTime videos from the Digital Karnak project, featuring both footage of modern-day Karnak and 3-D virtual reality reconstructions of the ancient temple complex. (Latest version of QuickTime recommended.)
Below is a sampling of QuickTime videos from the Digital Karnak project, featuring both footage of modern-day Karnak and 3-D virtual reality reconstructions of the ancient temple complex. (Latest version of QuickTime recommended.)
Contemporary Karnak
The following videos, from 2007, give a good idea of what the Karnak site looks like today:
- Western entrance, with alleyway of sphinxes, constructed in the 11th century B.C.
- Second alleyway of sphinxes, heading north toward the southern entrance from an adjoining temple devoted to the Egyptian mother goddess Mut
Ancient Karnak
The following Digital Karnak videos show features of the site as the project's developers believe they would have appeared in ancient times:
- Entire complex at its most complete state, in the fourth century A.D.
- Western entrance, with alleyway of sphinxes
- Hypostyle Hall, constructed in the 13th century B.C.
