This huge temple occupied an area 229 metres wide and 730 metres wide, inside some buildings were constructed although most of the interior was open space (possibly indicating that the temple was never actually finished). The temple did not follow the standard Egyptian temple template (entered via an open court followed by covered chambers), the Great Temple began with a columned hall which then open out onto open courtyards filled with stone offering tables.

The Gem-Aten (The Aten is found) was the main sanctuary of the temple, it differed in construction from the rest of the temple in only that some of the altars around the sides were protected by walls.

Other temple scenes from ancient Egypt were used to show the gods in some form - but on his Great Temple, Akhenaten was shown exclusively worhipping the Aten.

 After the Amarna site was deserted, the temple was broken down and the stone re-used by later pharaohs. It was only possible to reconstruct the original layout of the temple due to the discovery of the architects' original black lines.