Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak
How did New Kingdom builders raise stone roof-beams weighing on the order of 70 tonnes onto columns 21 metres tall, and roof over a covered hall of some 5,000 square metres — and which of the proposed methods, giant earthen ramps or levering, actually did the heavy lifting?
c. 1290–1220 BCE (19th Dynasty; built by Seti I and Ramesses II, on foundations begun earlier) · Karnak, Luxor, EgyptAdded July 2026