Who was the first architect in the world?

This question has intrigued people since ages. Read this blog to find the answer.

The Stepped pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, Egypt

The first form of architecture or precisely spaces which the hunter-gatherer human beings used might have been caves or shelter under the shadow of a tree to protect themselves from harsh weather, wild animals or just for relaxing in comfort. Of course, a natural cave cannot be classified as a building but the intelligent utilization of these spaces gave way to modern day architecture. The first form of settlements or houses came up when the hunter gatherer humans gradually began settling down near fertile river valleys and started becoming agricultural societies. The earliest city settlement was discovered in Jericho near the banks of Jordan River and it dates from around 9400 BC. By that time the town had more than 70 dwellings and 1000 inhabitants living there. But the world’s first fully developed civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The Burj Khalifa at Dubai

Architecture as we know today is not simply about building spaces for a function only. We remember many important buildings as landmarks not just for their purpose but more so for their appearance. Most of us can recognize the Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world today. It is possible because of its unique feature that is, its tallest height. This gives the building a globally recognizable monumental quality.

There were many civilizations like the Mesopotamian, Indus valley and Mayan that existed in the same time and all built complex towns and cities but the Egyptians were probably the first in the world to build structures which were of monumental quality that exist even today. They can be credited to produce first buildings called monuments. They could have made simple tombs to keep the mummies of pharaohs but they chose to build iconic structures instead. And there was one person behind this idea of building a monumental pyramid. He was none other than the infamous priest from the Hollywood movie “The mummy” Imhotep .

Imhotep can be called The Da Vinci of Egyptian civilization. He was the high priest; Grand vizier to the king, the world’s first recorded doctor, a writer, a philosopher, a seer, the world’s first recorded engineer and architect. King Djoser assigned him to build a royal tomb. Until then the old tombs were built in the form of mastabas (small rectangular mounds of mud which were a useless defense against tomb robbery). Imhotep designed the first pyramid – the step pyramid at Saqqara (constructed in 2650 BC) which exists even today. It looked more impressive and was more resistant to robbery than the earlier Mastabas.

Djoser later appointed Imhotep as “ First after the king of upper Egypt, Chancellor of the king of lower Egypt, Administrator of the great palace, hereditary nobleman, the Great one of the Ibis, builder, chief carpenter, chief sculptor and maker of vases in chief.” Later he was also given the title of “High priest of Heliopolis”. 100 years after his death he was declared a demigod. In 525 BC this doctor- architect became one of only a few mortals ever to be made a god.

Imhotep was the first architect to use stone columns in construction. He was the first to construct ceilings of temples with stone blocks and the first to build a statue above ground level in ancient Egypt.

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