Résumé
The reign of Amenhotep I was particularly rich in artistic and architectural activities. The king is known for his numerous constructions, especially in the Theban area and principally at Karnak where he renewed the monumental development of the temple of Amun-Ra by adorning it with many new structures. One of the major projects of Amenhotep I at Karnak was the arrangement of the courtyard in front of the Middle Kingdom temple in which he established many monuments dedicated to the royal cult. This courtyard did not constitute the first development for the royal cult at Karnak. Amenhotep I followed the steps of his predecessors, but he gave a considerable impulse to the royal worship with the multiplication of the structures devoted to it within the same space. Indeed, the pharaoh built around 27 or 28 niches and chapels for his own statues cult and he also managed to give a place to the veneration of the royal ancestors by displaying an offering calendar for them. The primordial place given to the cult of royal statues in this court suggests that the temple of Karnak was devoted to the worship of Amun as much as to the cult of the royalty, each in dedicated spaces, and that this sector of the temple of Amun-Ra played the role of a “royal cult complex”.