The large entrance portico or pronaos contains sixteen monolithic granite columns of the Corinthian order, eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind. The shafts of the columns are about 41 ft high and 15 ft round. Originally eight were of grey granite, and eight of pink with capitals and bases in white marble. The grey granite came from a quarry in the Eastern Desert of Egypt called Mons Claudianus, the pink ones came from Aswan.