Temple of Luxor in Egypt

Temple of Luxor

Planning a trip to Egypt is a dream for many and without a doubt it is a place where we can see places that are part of human history. The Egyptian dynasties that centuries ago founded cities and incredible monuments have left many vestiges that today are very tourist spots of great interest to everyone, such as the famous Temple of Luxor in Egypt.

Let's go to see her history of this Temple of Luxor and also what are we going to find when we go to visit it. It is undoubtedly one of the most important monuments in Egypt that is worth visiting in the city of Luxor and it is located near the Temple of Karnak.

Ancient Thebes

This temple is located within what was Ancient Thebes, one of the most important cities of Ancient Egypt that was also its capital during the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. It is within the current city of Luxor and we can still see important parts such as the Temple of Luxor and the Temple of Karnak that were communicated in its two kilometers of distance by an avenue with sphinxes that have almost completely disappeared. It was also formed by the eastern and western banks of the Nile with a necropolis on the latter. Its Egyptian name was Uaset but the Greeks called it Thebes. This temple of Luxor was an essential element in religious urbanism in Thebes, dedicated to the god Amon.

Temple of Luxor

Temple of Luxor

This temple was built in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth dynasties in the 1400 and 1000 BC centuries. This temple was designed mainly by the pharaohs Amenhotep III and Ramses II, of which the oldest parts are preserved although later other areas were added. Parts of the Ptolemaic dynasty were added to this temple and during the Roman Empire it was used as a military camp. This building is one of the best preserved of the New Egyptian Empire and contains many parts that are very old and that show us what many of the religious constructions of that time were like.

Parts of the temple

On the front we can still see the avenue of sphinxes that connected with the Temple of Karnak with about six hundred sphinxes of which very few remain. Near this avenue is the chapel of Serapis that is attributed to the Ptolemies, as this place was an area of ​​worship for centuries. We can see the impressive pylon built by Ramses II. This pylon comes from the Greek word that means large door and we refer to that door in a double construction that looks like inverted pyramids and that form a large entrance wall. The pylon of Ramses II recounts the battle of Qadesh where the pharaoh faced the Hittites. This would be the entrance gate to the temple. In front of this pylon would be the two obelisks of which only one remains because the other is located in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. At the entrance are also the two seated statues of Ramses II with Queen Nefertari represented on either side of the throne.

Temple of Luxor

Now, we entered the peristyle courtyard, the first courtyard of the temple. This 55 meter long courtyard has 74 papyrus columns in two rows and in the center there is a sanctuary with three chapels dedicated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu. These chapels served as a storehouse for the sacred boats. In this courtyard we can also see various inscriptions with religious ceremonies or the sons of the pharaoh. We go to the next room where we find the processional colonnade of Amenhotep III with fourteen columns in two rows.

Temple of Luxor

El Peristyle courtyard of Amenhotep III is the next room. On three of the sides we can see two rows of papyrus columns. The patio is accessed by a staircase and this place leads to the hypostyle room that would be the first room in the interior area of ​​the temple. This room has 32 columns and was closed in its original form. From this hypostyle room you can access other auxiliary rooms such as the Mut, Jonsu or Amun Hall and the Roman sanctuary. In the room of the birth we can see three columns decorated with reliefs that announce the birth of Amenhotep III. We can continue to a room that served as a vestibule and finally to the sanctuary of Amenhotep III with scenes of the pharaoh. The Amenhotep area is what is defined as the interior of the temple, built previously and later the outermost area by Ramses II. The tour will easily take us through all the rooms where we can enjoy all the details of the engravings and the impressive columns with papyrus shapes that we will see in many of its temples.


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