Location: Luxor Governorate Map
Luxor Archaeological Site religious complex is located in Luxor
Governorate in Egypt. Temple at Luxor is a religious complex
dedicated to a triad of Egyptian gods Amon or Amun, Mut and
Khonsu. Luxor Archaeological Site is one of the largest and
spectacular collection of temples from the time of Ancient
Egypt. Most of surviving structures date back to the time of
ruling of Amenhotep III and Ramses III (XIII- XI centuries BC).
The temple of Luxor held annual celebrations of Opet during the
floods of the Nile. During the festivities the priests from the
Karnak Temple brought sacred boat of Amun, Mut and Khonsu and
performed sacred rituals dedicated to the celebration of new
harvest.
The road to the temple is the avenue of
sphinxes that once stretched from Luxor to Karnak. Before the
entrance there is a first pylon, decorated with scenes of a
victorious battle of Ramses. Here there are two huge statues of
Ramses and the obelisk, made of pink granite. There were two
obelisks, but the second was taken in the XIX century in Paris,
where it stands at a Place de la Concorde.
Next is the
court of Ramses II, on the east side of which rises the Mosque
of Abu al-Haggag. Ramses court is surrounded by two rows of
columns. Their capitals are created in the form of lotus buds.
The walls of the courtyard although heavily damaged are adorned
with bas-reliefs.
Huge black granite statues of Ramses
guarding the entrance to the most ancient part of the temple. It
begins with a majestic colonnade of Amenhotep III with the
passage of the 14 columns. Columns decorated with capitals in
the form of papyrus buds, and bas-reliefs on the walls depict
scenes of Opet festival ceremony.
The next courtyard of
Amenhotep III that is surrounded by colonnade. In the yard you
can see the lobby, decorated with columns, which leads into the
Sanctuary of the temple. Then you reach the Birth Room those
walls are painted with scenes of birth of Amenhontepa III and
his accession to the throne. Further, the chapel of Alexander of
Macedon and the premises of the priests.
Geographical location
Luxor lies on the southeast side of an
approximately 120 kilometer long loop of the Nile to the east, which
begins at Ad Dīmuqrāt 25 kilometers southwest of Luxor and extends to
Hammādī 55 kilometers northwest of the city. The capital of the
governorate, Qinā, which has around 222,000 inhabitants and is also
located on this bend in the river, is located 50 kilometers north of
Luxor. The governorate of Qinā extends on both sides of the banks of the
Nile in the south up to 20 kilometers behind Esna and northwest up to 5
kilometers in front of the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos.
At Luxor, the water of the river creates a strip of grassland about
five kilometers wide on both banks, which is followed by the Arabian
Desert in the east and the Libyan Desert in the northwest. North of the
city, the Libyan Desert almost reaches the banks of the Nile. The
Arabian Desert separates Luxor from the Red Sea, 165 kilometers away in
the northeast.
Luxor is connected to Qinā and Esna along the Nile
by a railway line that runs along the eastern bank of the river in the
south to Aswan. The city's train station is centrally located and about
800 meters from the Nile. In addition to the railway, a road connects
the larger cities on the banks of the Nile. The only road connection to
the west bank of the river between Qinā and Esna is ten kilometers
southwest of Luxor via the bridge at Aḑ Ḑabīyah. The city's
international airport is located seven kilometers southeast of the city
center on the edge of the Arabian Desert.
Luxor is home to some
of Egypt's most important archaeological sites, making tourism one of
the city's most important industries. The best known are the Luxor and
Karnak temples in the middle and north of the city, as well as the
Valley of the Kings and the ancient Egyptian temple ruins in West
Thebes, the western bank of the Nile. On the Nile, as an important
traffic artery, many cruise ships travel from Luxor as a starting or
ending point to Aswan in the south and north to ancient Abydos. The ship
landing stages are located within the city along the entire eastern bank
of the Nile.
The prevailing desert climate in Luxor is characterized by very low humidity and almost no rainfall. Only in October can there be hardly any measurable rain. The average annual temperature is 24.3 °C, with maximum temperatures averaging 33.4 °C. In the hottest season from May to September, the highs rise to around 40 °C, the nighttime lows are 20 to 24 °C. In the winter months, the air warms to 23 to 25 °C, and night temperatures drop to around 5 to 7 °C.
Famous is the Temple of Luxor, a temple in honor of the god Amun,
largely built by Amenhotep III. was built.
One of the granite
obelisks that was erected in front of the temple now stands on the Place
de la Concorde in Paris (see Luxor Obelisk). In addition to the colossal
statues of Ramses II, there is also a small white mosque that houses the
bones of the local saint Abu el-Haggag. On his anniversary they are led
through the city in a large procession in a barge, just as the ancient
Egyptians did in the barge of Amun.
The Luxor Museum is also
worth seeing. Newer finds from the area are exhibited here.
The
Hotel Winter Palace, which opened in 1907 in Victorian style, is located
directly on the promenade along the banks of the Nile.