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Masonic Resources
| Egyptian Hall |
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Egyptian Hall, finished in 1889, is decorated in the style of the Nile Valley, and in all of the Ornamentations, was of the utmost importance. Twelve huge columns stand on the four sides of the room, surmounted by capitals peculiar to the Temples of Luxor, Karnak, Philae and other ancient edifices. Each column has an original in Egypt. The sections of the columns have borders of reeds and rushes, a fluted frieze, the flying sun-disk, the Uraeus, and other symbolic motifs. Lotus flowers twine around the base of each column; reed decorations are on the cornice; and pyramidal designs complete the panels. Uraei, or sacred asps with extended heads, encircle all sides of the Hall. The furniture also is in Egyptian style. The Worshipful Master's throne is gilded ebony; the pedestal is flanked by sphinxes. The pedestals of the Senior and Junior Wardens are also similarly decorated. The scenes of domestic life on the walls were taken from the hypogea (underground chambers) of the Old Empire. Other scenes were taken from sepulchral chambers. The ceiling is blue, indicative of the heavens. A solar disk is placed in the East. This is the symbol of Aten, the Sun, the god of Akhenaten. From it emanate rays tipped with the ancient sign of fertility, the Ankh. At various points, the seven planets are indicated by stars. The symbolic representation of the twelve months was copied from the Temple of Rameses at Thebes. The crossbeams of the ceiling are treated with motifs taken from ancient decorative forms; and the intersections have ancient mason-marks. The frieze of the cornice represents the seasons and the twelve hours of the day, as found at Edfou. The appropriate goddess stands in the prow of a boat. She has a star in a circle over her head. The soffits of the lintels over the columns are alternately figures of Uati, the goddess of the north and south, and Nekhebt, identified by the Greeks with Elithya, the goddess of birth. East Wall The twelve columns and fourteen panels, numbered from the Worshipful Master's right and running counterclockwise, are as follows. Column No. 1 is divided into two parts: the upper, representing the sovereign and his family adoring the sun, and the lower, Horus and Thoth purifying Amenophis II. Column No. 12, to the Worshipful Master's left: the upper panel is the Judgement of the Dead, and the lower, Horus to Osiris, by his mother, Isis. The four panels on this wall represent four great deities: Panel No. 1, Osiris; Panel No. 2, Horus; Panel No. 14, Isis; and Panel No. 13, Ammon-Ra. North Wall West Wall South Wall Egyptian Hall is fifty-one feet long, forty-three feet wide and twenty-two feet high. |
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