Proper view of a Pyramid (Part 6)

Outside the Sacred Precinct:

Upon approach, one is standing outside the sacred precinct... the view of the Pyramid does not count as you can see two sides of the Pyramid.  Even up to the moment one enters the Entrance Colonnade, one can see two sides of the Pyramid.  There may of been a procession around the entire precinct via a culvert, which would allow visitors to see all sides of the Pyramid before entering.

Entrance Colonnade:  One enters through a covered passageway (see Entrance Colonnade lower right), so you can not see the Pyramid until you are in the correct location.  The Colonnade has engaged columns, that is, columns that are physically tied to a wall that is itself attached to the main hall wall.  I believe the resulting niches could be used for guard stations.  Others speculate that statues of the Pharaoh could be placed here.  There would of been hundreds of thousands of people proceeding into this temple.  The hypostyle hall would be a deliberate constriction, physically and drastically darker than the exterior, so that mentally the public would have a feeling of being overwhelmed at the sight of the Pyramid.  There would of been inscense burning, perhaps candles of sorts, traffic flowing in both directions in single file, etc.  This colonnade was to prepare people, to get them in the right frame of mind, to quiet them down and get them focused as they were about to enter the sacred precinct to see the destination of their own God.  The 'culvert' that surrounds this entire complex was also used for the same purpose, to funnel and allow to exit the tens and hundreds of thousand of visitors to the site.  Offerings could of been placed along this culvert for the public or by priests in the sacred courtyard. 

You exit the Entrance Colonnade and turn to the right, to see the Pyramid from the correct side, and at generally the correct distance.  Obviously the 'exit' of this colonnade is aligned with the edge of the Pyramid meaning it would be more difficult to see the side of the Pyramid.  In the Great Court, one can leave offerings, because one would be looking up to the passageway of the eternal kingdom and thus, looking at the residing place of one of Egypt's Pharaohs. In fact, it is like looking through a window through time and space, to the Pharaoh himself.

Two things stand out about the colonnade, one that its length isn't orthogonal to the precinct which could of been done to either direct people towards the back of the Great Court, or to prevent a direct view from the 'exterior' in towards the Great Court itself.  The second smaller feature is the exit of the colonnade where a angled projection exists (see later blog post regarding this).  Yet another feature is the vestibule which appears to be splayed in plan and has a niche on either side, possibly for a lowered gate to secure the precinct and entire complex, considering there is only one entrance to this entire complex it wouldn't surprise me that this might be the case in so much as it is obvious the Architect wanted to control who comes in and out.  Why else build a 10.5 Meter high surrounding wall?  Just to hold the fill from ramps?  A wall which has projecting 'guard stations' just large enough for a single individual.

Token Palace (3): The living Pharaoh was given a special place (3) at the rear of the precinct to, in my mind, view his Pyramid, review progress and models. This viewing platform would of been refined after death as a small palace shrine in his honor, or generally left as is, removing of temporary structures to shade the Sun.  

Great Court: The precinct walls themselves, those flanking the Great Court, reinforce the perspective, representing 'that of the earth', which transition to the Pyramid itself which is 'that of the sky' (limestone) and 'that of the heavens' (gold).  They overlap the base of the Pyramid, so that you can't see too much of the side unless you really try by standing to the extreme right or left.  As you enter the Great Court, it is my contention that the perspective of the side wall closely aligns with the hypothesis corner of the Pyramid.  This would 'lead' the eye up to the very tip of the Pyramid and must of been a wonderful thing to experience.  It would be dependent on the height of this wall as it would have to be below eye level in order for it to converge upward towards the horizon.

Under Construction: Future video sequence of Step Pyramid of Djoser showing the procession of the public to the Pyramid.  Desperately looking for CAD drawings and elevation data.  If you know of a source, please contact me.  As principal of The Drawing Studio as well as my own  architectural office, I certainly have the capabilities of doing a reconstruction, as I've done in the past.  It has been said elsewhere that the 'steps' get smaller as they approach the peak.  Hopefully the Japanese survey team who has recently scanned this Pyramid as of August 2008 will have data that supports this notion and will be able to provide accurate documentation of the entire complex.

Future Procession Relationships and Distances: This sequence, as described above, and distance to the base of the Pyramids changes depending on how large future Pyramids are.  I would imagine that there is always a beginning point into the Sacred Precinct, a covered or 'view blocked' transition and an exit where you can walk towards the Pyramid single face and see it rise above you.  The perspective of the Pyramid flattens as you approach its great pathway until you can imagine it as a pathway as grand as the Nile itself.

Southern Tomb (2): I am not surprised to learn about a smaller version of the underground temple on the south side.  In fact I immediately was looking for a place where a model of the Pyramid itself would of sat and that South East corner looked especially fertile, where the Pharaoh could see the model while watching the actual Pyramid get built.  This certainly would of been done as the Architect could then easily direct the workers on what needed to be accomplished as well as show the design to the Pharaoh.  There is a little patch of rubble in the South West corner within the Great Court, but I have no idea what that little patch is... it could just be some stone workers today are using to make temporary repairs.  The fact that it is loosely in a square shape certainly peeks my interest, but I must admit that they are probably salvaged stones.

If they are not, the 'rubble' on the ground near '3' between this location and the Pyramid itself reminds me of footing blocks that, if they are actual remnants of the excavation exactly where found, could of supported perhaps a wooden mockup of the Pyramid that when viewed from the correct angle would echo exactly the final Pyramid. That is, it would be an exact scale model of the Pyramid and would allow one to imagine what the final Pyramid would actually look like at full size in it's final location.  Since I have not found a good photo of this stones, it is truly hard to say... as mentioned before, they are probably salvaged stone from a nearby wall.

To learn more about the precinct of Djoser and the Step Pyramid and for image credits, go HERE. (www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/saqqara/saqqara_text.htm)

Good tour of site: