Architecture of Egypt
There have been many architectural styles used in Egyptian buildings over the centuries, including Ancient Egyptian architecture, Greco-Roman architecture, Islamic architecture, and modern architecture.
Ancient Egyptian architecture is best known for its monumental temples and tombs built in stone, including its famous pyramids, such as the pyramids of Giza. These were built with a distinctive repertoire of elements including pylon gateways, hypostyle halls, obelisks, and hieroglyphic decoration. The advent of Greek Ptolemaic rule, followed by Roman rule, introduced elements of Greco-Roman architecture into Egypt, especially in the capital city of Alexandria. After this came Coptic architecture, including early Christian architecture, which continued to follow ancient classical and Byzantine influences.
Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, Islamic architecture flourished. A new capital, Fustat, was founded; it became the center of monumental architectural patronage thenceforth, and through successive new administrative capitals, it eventually became the modern city of Cairo. Early Islamic architecture displayed a mix of influences, including classical antiquity and new influences from the east such as the Abbasid style that radiated from the Abbasid Caliphate's heartland in Mesopotomia during the 9th century. In the 10th century, Egypt became the center of a new empire, the Fatimid Caliphate. Fatimid architecture initiated further developments that influenced the architectural styles of subsequent periods. Saladin, who overthrew the Fatimids and founded the Ayyubid dynasty in the 12th century, was responsible for constructing the Cairo Citadel, which remained the center of government until the 19th century. During the Mamluk period, a wealth of monumental religious and funerary complexes were built, constituting much of Cairo's medieval heritage today. The Mamluk architectural style continued to linger even after the Ottoman conquest of 1517, when Egypt became an Ottoman province.
In the early 19th century, Muhammad Ali began to modernize Egyptian society and encouraged a break with traditional medieval architectural traditions, initially by emulating late Ottoman architectural trends. Under the reign of his grandson Isma'il Pasha, reform efforts were pushed further, the Suez Canal was constructed, and a new Haussmann-influenced expansion of Cairo began. European tastes became strongly evident in architecture in the late 19th century, though there was also a trend of reviving what were seen as indigenous or "national" architectural styles, such as the many Neo-Mamluk buildings of this era. In the 20th century, some Egyptian architects pushed back against dominant Western ideas of architecture. Among them, Hassan Fathy was known for adapting indigenous vernacular architecture to modern needs. Since then, Egypt continues to see new buildings erected in a variety of styles and for various purposes, ranging from housing projects to more monumental prestige projects like the Cairo Tower and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Ancient
Ancient Egyptian period
's architecture included pyramids, temples, enclosed cities, canals, and dams. Most buildings were built of locally available materials by paid laborers and craftsmen. Monumental temples and tombs, built in stone and typically on terrain beyond the reach of the annual Nile floods, are the main structures to have survived to the present day. The most common type of stone used throughout the country was limestone, with sandstone also commonly used and quarried further south. Where harder stone was needed, granite was widely employed, with basalt also used for pavements.Monumental complexes were usually fronted by massive pylons, approached via processional avenues flanked by sphinx statues, and contained courtyards and hypostyle halls. Columns were typically adorned with capitals decorated to resemble plants important to Egyptian civilization, such as the papyrus plant, the lotus, or palm. Obelisks were another characteristic feature. Walls were decorated with scenes and hieroglyphic texts either painted or incised in relief.
The first great era of construction took place during the Old Kingdom, which is also when the most impressive pyramid tombs were built. The oldest monumental stone structure of Egypt is the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, while the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx were all built roughly from 2600 to 2500 BC.
File:Tomb of Ramses V VI in Valley of the Kings on West Bank of Luxor Egypt.jpg|thumb|Decorated chamber in the Tomb of Ramses V and Ramses VI in the Valley of Kings, New Kingdom period
The construction of great buildings was revived during the New Kingdom, when Thebes served as the main capital. The most impressive monuments from this period include the great temple complex of Karnak, the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the Luxor Temple, the Temple of Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum and the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu. Starting with the Eighteenth Dynasty, the pharaohs were buried in underground tombs, richly decorated but hidden from sight, in the Valley of the Kings.
Domestic architecture was typically built with mudbrick, wood, and reed mats, and the main towns were situated on the agriculturally rich floodplains of the Nile. As a result, little of this everyday architecture has survived. Some idea of their form is known thanks to three-dimensional models that were left in tombs, which suggest that they resembled vernacular building types still found in the Nile valley and other parts of Africa today.
Greco-Roman period
During the Greco-Roman period of Egypt, when Egypt was ruled by the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and then the Roman Empire, Egyptian architecture underwent significant changes due to the influence of Greek architecture.The capital city of Alexandria was an innovator in architecture and its influence was felt in places such as Pompeii and Constantinople. Its plan was largely that of a Greek city, with local elements mixed in. Most of the city has disappeared under the water or under the modern city today, but it was known from descriptions to contain many great buildings including a royal palace, the Musaeum, the Library of Alexandria, and the famous Pharos Lighthouse.
Many well-preserved temples in Upper Egypt date from this era, such as the Temple of Edfu, the Temple of Kom Ombo, and the Philae temple complex. While temple architecture remained more traditionally Egyptian, new Greco-Roman influences are evident, such as the appearance of Composite capitals. Egyptian motifs also made their way into wider Greek and Roman architecture.
File:Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, Alexandria, Egypt - 50852603281.jpg|thumb|Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa in Alexandria, Roman period
Much of the period's funerary architecture has not survived, though some of Alexandria's underground catacombs, shared by the city's inhabitants to bury their dead, have been preserved. They feature a hybrid architectural style in which both classical and Egyptian decoration are mixed together. The Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, begun in the 1st century AD and continuously enlarged until the 3rd century, are one notable example and can be visited today.
Late Antiquity and Byzantine period
, which dates from the Late Antique or Byzantine period, is continuous with classical traditions. Egypt was also the site of the earliest Christian monasteries, which became numerous by the end of the 4th century AD. Almost no traces of Alexandria's ancient churches have been found, but some exceptional examples of Early Christian architecture have been preserved in the Nile Valley, such as the Red Monastery and the White Monastery near Sohag. The continuity between earlier classical and later Coptic architecture can also be seen in the remains of major urban centres such as Hermopolis Magna, where the same craftsmanship appears in both pagan and Christian buildings from the 3rd or 4th centuries. At the Kharga Oasis in the Western Desert, the El Bagawat necropolis contains tombs and small chapels from both the pre-Christian and early Christian periods, ranging roughly from the late 3rd to 8th centuries. The Chapel of the Exodus is one of the oldest at this site, built around the early 4th century, while a nearby church, possibly dating to the 5th century, may be one of the oldest remains of a church in Egypt.Remains of churches from the 4th and early 5th centuries show that they were built as basilicas with a tripartite sanctuary including a transverse aisle and a straight eastern wall. The Red Monastery and White Monastery at Sohag, representative of the 5th century, have rectangular basilical layouts culminating in a more sophisticated triconch sanctuary, surrounded by three semi-circular apses with decorative niches. By the 7th century, the typical plan of a Coptic church consisted of a basilica with a barrel-vaulted nave, pillars and aisles along the sides and a transept flanked by three square apses covered by domes or semi-domes. Coptic churches continued to be built during the following Islamic period, usually retaining a basilical plan.
Early Coptic buildings also demonstrate a continuing tradition of rich decoration, including Corinthian and Byzantine "basket" capitals and wall paintings. Extensive remains of painted decoration, some of it in early Byzantine style, can be found in the chapels of the Bagawat Necropolis – particularly in the Chapel of Peace from the 5th to 6th centuries and, in less sophisticated form, in the 4th-century Chapel of the Exodus – and in the triconch of the Red Monastery – painted in various phases from the 5th to 13th centuries. Many other examples of painted and sculptural decoration from ancient churches are preserved today at the Coptic Museum in Cairo.
File:The apse mosaic from St. Catherine monastery in Sinai.tiff|thumb|6th-century mosaic of the Transfiguration in Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula
At Mount Sinai, the Monastery of Saint Catherine was built by emperor Justinian. Today it is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery in the world. Although much rebuilt and restored, the site still retains substantial remains from its sixth-century construction, including a three-aisled basilical church with a Byzantine mosaic of the Transfiguration.