Very impressive within its wide desert surroundings, the exterior of the limestone Cenotaph of Seti I (1294-1279 BC) would work nicely as a post modernist library on a university campus. Inside, its hypostyle halls are packed with sandstone papyrus shaped columns in darkness lit with shafts of sunlight streaming from square holes in the roof. Sadly, despite the no smoking signs at the entrance, several guards and their hangers-on were puffing away on the particularly nasty smelling cigarettes sold in Egypt. This tobacco makes my eyes water and stirs up upper respiratory congestion. This is another temple in which you have to resort to a surgical face mask if you want to stay inside and study the engravings.
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