Hypostyle hall

In architecture, a hall with a roof supported by columns; applied to the colonnaded hall of the Egyptian pylon temple.Examples:Egypt, The Hypostyle Hall of the Great Temple of Ammon at Karnak, c. 1312-1301 BCE, 338 x 170 feet, 134 columns in 16 rows, the central avenues are about 78 feet in height, and have columns 69 feet high and 11 feet 9 inches in diameter, with capitals of the papyrus-flower or bell type, while in order to admit light through the clerestory, the side avenues are lower with columns 42 1/2 feet high and 8 feet 9 inches in diameter. The Metropolitan Museum, NY, displays a model of this hypostyle hall as it originally appeared. See Egyptian art and papyrus. Hypostyle Hall of the Great Mosque of C?rdoba, Spain, begun 786, doubled in area in the 10th century to 585 x 410 feet, with 1,200 columns supporting horseshoe arches, patterned with colored marbles and other stones. Although it was converted into C?rdoba's Roman Catholic cathedral in 1238, the building is known locally as La Mezquita ? The Mosque. See an aerial view of La Mezquita, showing the Christian alterations. See aerial view and Islamic art.