by John Anthony West: Travellers Key to Ancient Egypt

The art and architecture of ancient Egypt was sacred art. It has a different purpose and different motivation from virtually all art and archtiecture produced today. It was an art dedicated wholly to religion. Modern scholars regard this pre-occupation with religious art as a testament to belief; to the hold that religion (for better or worse) upon the minds of "primitive" people. The historian sees an Egyptian temple as, above all, a testament to faith. This is true. But it is only part of the truth. The sacred art and architecture of Egypt - indeed, the sacred art and architecture of all great civilizations of the past - are also a testament to knowledge.

Certain aspects of this knowledge are acknowledged and self evident: the total mastery of building techniques and materials, the precision craftsmanship, the near-miraculous expertise of painters and especially sculptors. But there are other aspects of ancient knowledge that are less obvious. This knowledge, if ever it was written down, was never made public. Today, it must be deduced from the monuments themselves where it was put to work; in proportion, measure and harmony. Goethe once called architecture "frozen music". This definition is not merely poetically true, it is technically true. The temples and pyramids of Egypt are symphonies in stone. Their power, the emotional effect they produce upon us, are the direct results of the precision of their measure and proportion, just as a Bach chorale is the direct result of a particular sequence of notes of different frequencies.