Luxor Temple Travel Blog The Luxor Temple and the Avenue of the Sphinx

After arriving in Luxor, we took things easy — relaxing in the Winter Palace, enjoying a Felucca ride on the Nile, touring the Luxor Museum, and wandering aimlessly around the city. But now, it was time for what we came for: digging into the world of Ancient Egypt. And given its location literally adjacent to our hotel, the Luxor Temple seemed like the right place to start.

After buying our tickets, we entered the premises and were confronted with the Pylon of Rameses II, guarded by massive statues of the pharaoh himself. An absolutely jaw-dropping sight, and we couldn’t decide which was more impressive — the age of the statues (over 3000 years), their sheer size, or their incredible condition. At any rate, we were giddy with excitement that this was the first thing we were seeing during our exploration of Luxor.

It took us awhile just to get past the entrance, where there’s also an amazing obelisk, with hieroglyphs so sharp and clearly defined, their actual age seems unbelievable. There should be a matching obelisk on the right-hand side of the entrance as well, but it was “gifted” to France in 1830, and now stands in Paris at the Place de la Concorde. France was actually presented with both obelisks, but never transported the second one. In 1981, President Mitterrand magnanimously “gifted it back” to Egypt. So generous.

Built around 1400 BC, the Luxor Temple was the epicenter of kings during the New Kingdom, when Thebes (as Luxor was once known) was the capital of Egypt. Construction started under Amenhotep III, but was expanded by Tutankhamun and Ramses II, among others. It was “discovered” by western archaeologists in the 1800s, but had been in continuous use for almost the entirety of its history.

The complex is massive, and immediately overwhelming. Touring the place, I was actually happy about my ignorance of Egyptian history and symbology. It’s easy imagine an Egyptologist with a working knowledge of hieroglyphics being paralyzed by this place. It would take a lifetime to fully study the etchings on the temple walls! No: better to be ignorant, so that you can casually admire the age and beauty of the complex, without trying to understand it.

We couldn’t believe our eyes when stepping into the Great Colonnade Hall, where 28 massive columns have withstood the test of time. This 60-meter long hall was built by Amenhotep III, but it was King Tut who oversaw the completion and decoration of the open-flower columns. There are plenty of natural wonders in the world, which make you feel small and insignificant, but it doesn’t happen frequently in man-made structures. But here, under the shadows of these ancient columns, that’s how I felt.

Another thing we found fascinating was the Luxor Temple Cachette. In 1989, while repairing the pavement and investigating the ground beneath the court, archaeologists uncovered the tops of statues buried about a meter below the surface. They soon dug up an underground chamber holding remarkably intact collection of royal and divine statues spanning several dynasties. These treasures were purposefully hidden by ancient temple priests, and today many of them can be seen in the Cachette Hall of the Luxor Museum.

Another incredible sight is the Avenue of the Sphinxes, which connects Luxor Temple to the city’s other major center of worship, Karnak. Originally, this 2.7km stretch between the temples was a built as a canal, for religious processions such as the annual Opet Festival. Eventually, time took over and the canal disappeared, replaced by soil and eventually houses.

The initial traces of the sphinx-lined avenue we see today were discovered in 1949 by Egyptian archaeologist Mohammed Zakaria Ghoneim, who unearthed the first eight statues. Opened to tourists in 2021, the avenue is now flanked by over 1000 sphinxes in varying states of conservation.

There is so much to discover, see, and learn, that a single visit to the Luxor Temple feels woefully insufficient. We’d almost suggest visiting once at the beginning of your time in Luxor, for the “wow” factor, and once at the end, after you’ve had a chance to absorb more of the history. And it’s best to plan your first visit in the morning, then return close to sunset when the lights go on, for the incomparable atmosphere.

From our Travel Blog.

+16