Ancient Egypt - touring Egypt's amazing Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.
Many of Luxor's tombs and temples are on the West Bank of the Nile but Luxor has two magnificent temples on it's East Bank which must not be missed - Karnak Temple and the Temple of Luxor.
Ancient Egypt - Karnak Temple. Below is a visitor guide about touring Egypt's totally impressive Karnak Temple complex which we visited whilst on holiday in Luxor, Egypt. There are quite a few temple sites in and around this part of ancient Egypt to be visited - for instance the Medinat Habu Temple of Ramses III is fantastic - but Karnak Temple is really something else. We enjoyed all of our sightseeing around the various temples but think that we should have visited Karnak last of all. Karnak Temple is around 3kms from Luxor so easily reached from the centre of the city either by walking along the paved area beside The Nile or by a quick 10LE taxi ride or even by caleche. Entry into the site cost us 45LE - even in February it was really hot inside the complex so it is really worth taking plenty of water with you. In fact the site is so large that you can easily spend a whole day looking around so you may wish to consider even take some food with you too.
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| The First Pylon | First Pylon with the row of Sphynx | Mummiform figures of the King as Osiris | Wall relief's | |
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| Ramses II with one of his daughters | Hieroglyphs can be seen everywhere | First Pylon of the Temple of Khonsu | Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Khonsu |
At the entrance you can easily get a guide to take you round but we prefer just to wander around such sites simply enjoying it all and taking our photographs. There are several books available which give you lots of information and descriptions - in particular one called "The Illustrated Guide to Luxor, Tombs, Temples and Museums" - this book by Kent R. Weeks is listed as ISBN 977-424-800-7 but from what we can see it may be that you can only buy it in the Middle East - we got ours in Luxor.
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| Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Khonsu | Painted wall relief | Wall Releifs | 7th Pylon with remains of statues | The Sacred Lake |
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| Temple of Ramses II | Osiris Statue |
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| Hieroglyphs | Temple of Thutmes III | The Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut |
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| Karnak Temple Luxor |
Sandstone Columns of the Hypostyle Hall | The massive columns supporting the ceiling of the Hypostyle Hall | Criosphinxes - lions body with the head of a ram |
Touring Ancient Egypt - The Temple of Luxor which is situated alongside the River Nile in Luxor City
Amenophis III commenced the construction of Luxor Temple to celebrate the Festival of Opet around
1400BC and then Rameses II added a Court some time later. The City authorities
floodlight Luxor Temple in the evening to show it's magnificent granite pillars
and it is a really beautifull sight - the Temple is open until around 9PM.
Also good views can actually be acheived from the pavement outside the complex beside the River Nile since
in a way you get a better overall view of the site - we took quite a few photographs from around there.
Compared to the massive Karnak complex mentioned above Luxor Temple
seems somewhat small - in hindsight we should have visited Karnak last of
all on our sightseeing because it just dwarfs all the other temple sights.
However we certainly did enjoy walking round Luxor's Temple - it really is
very impressive in it's own right.
The entrance to the Temple of Luxor is located fairly near to the Winter Palace, about halfway along the paved area beside The Nile. If you
wish you can have a guide to take you round and explain everything - one will certainly try and attach himself to you as soon as you enter the site,
however in our case we just like wandering around, being ever more impressed with the sheer side of the pillars and the beauty of the
drawings and taking our photographs of it all.
It is of course useful to have some information about what you are seeing and we think one book is particularly good -
"The Illustrated Guide to Luxor, Tombs, Temples and Museums" by Kent R. Weeks is listed as ISBN 977-424-800-7. It is possible that this
book can only be purchased in the Middle East - we got ours in Luxor for 200LE (after a bit of haggling of course).
Colonade built by Amenhepet III Abu Al-Haggag Mosque Shrine of Alexander the Great and Hypostyle Hall
As would be expected at such maignifcent sites there are plenty of coach trips which have Luxor Temple on their itinerary and the
groups being led around can make it pretty busy, however most of these seem to be gone by around midday and the area becomes quieter with mostly
just us "do it yourselfers" around, then it all starts getting busy again around 3 o'clock.
There are a few sphynx wandering around which have been excavated on the site - some of these sphynx's are damaged but
there are a few fairly intact ones to be found. Originally a thousand ram-headed Spynx lined the 2.5km long causeway between Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple
- this route was used for religious processions between the two Temples.
These are our Egypt related topics:-
Further related information: The following travel books may be of great benefit if travelling and touring around Egypt's Ancient Sites - Egypt Rough Guide Egypt Insight Guide Egypt Eyewitness Guide Egypt Lonely Planet
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