No building can form a greater contrast with the temple behind it than does the little pavilion erected at Medeenet Habû by Rameses, the first king of the 19th dynasty. As will be seen by the annexed plan (Woodcut No. 34), it is singularly broken and varied in its outline, surrounding a small court in the shape of a cross. It is 3 storeys in height, and, properly speaking, consists of only 3 rooms on each floor, connected together by long winding passages. There is reason, however, to believe that this is only a fragment of the building, and foundations exist which render it probable that the whole was originally a square of the width of the front, and had other chambers, probably only in wood or brick, besides those we now find. This would hardly detract from the playful character of the design, and when coloured, as it originally was, and with its battlements or ornaments complete, it must have formed a composition as pleasing as it is unlike our usual conceptions of Egyptian art.

The other illustration represents in the Egyptians’ own quaint style a three-storeyed dwelling, the upper storey apparently being, like those of the Assyrians, an open gallery supported by dwarf columns. The lower windows are closed by shutters. In the centre is a staircase leading to the upper storey, and on the left hand an awning supported on wooden pillars, which seems to have been an indispensable part of all the better class of dwellings. Generally speaking, these houses are shown as situated in gardens laid out in a quaint, formal style, with pavilions, and fishponds, and all the other accompaniments of gardens in the East at the present day.

In all the conveniences and elegances of building they seem to have anticipated all that has been done in those countries down to the present day. Indeed, in all probability the ancient Egyptians surpassed the modern in those respects as much as they did in the more important forms of architecture.