Ancient Egyptian architecture

The ancient Egyptian architecture is one of the most celebrated building styles and civilizations in the world history, Egyptians developed a wide variety of buildings and structures such as the pyramids, temples, palaces and monuments Spread along the River Nile (Blakemore, 100). Egypt being a country on a vast Sahara desert, timber was so scarce hence the two most prominent building materials were stones and sunbaked mud bricks. The stones include limestones, granite, coral and sandstone. Since the establishment of the Old Kingdom, big stones and boulders were a preserve of temples and tombs leaving bricks for other uses such as temple precinct walls, town buildings, fortress, palace, temple complexes and annexes (Reich and Cunningham, 35).
For the pyramids, mudbricks, gravel, quarry stones and sand were used to build its core. The ancient Egyptian architecture was main massive structures with thick sloping walls based on religious monuments. The walls were sloping with wide base for stability of the mud structures (Dieter, et al., 46). Use of arches in buildings was introduced in the fourth dynasty to replace the post and lintel building structures with flat roofs and massive supporting walls or closed placed pillars (Gates, 102). Commonly on the walls both internal and external and on the columns were hieroglyphic, carvings and pictorial frescoes in visually fascinating colors. Some of the famous buildings and structures of the ancient Egyptian architecture include;
The Giza pyramid complex
The complex of Egyptian pyramids was built in the fourth Dynasty to act both as tombs and make the name of the reigning Pharaoh last for eternity (Gates, 100). Therefore, they signified the power and mighty of pharaonic state and religion. The Giza Necropolis today stands on the Giza plateau, about 8 km from the town of Giza and approximately