(^10) Three days were spent in Luxor, indulging in all the tourist attractions, including
the Temple of Luxor, the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. Luxor was
rightly known as the biggest open-air museum globally and contained a third of
the world’s most important antiquities. That bit of information was such a
mouthful. I read it twice before the words sank in! Unfortunately, even though
three days were spent in the area, it would take substantially longer to visit
everything Luxor had to offer.
I still claim the Temple of Luxor is among the most beautiful in Egypt. It consisted
of a complex constructed approximately 1400 BCE and is one of the best-
preserved ancient monuments in Egypt. Construction of the temple was started by
the pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-52 BC) and was completed by Tutankhamen
(1336-27 BC) and Horemheb (1323-1295 BC) and then added to by Rameses II
(1279-13 BC). I only mention this as I considered it a seriously long time ago.
The Karnak Temple was equally impressive and dated to around 2055 BC-100 AD.
Being the largest religious building ever constructed, the structure measured 1.
kilometres by 0.8 kilometres. The Hypostyle Hall, at 16,459 square metres and
featuring 134 columns, is still the biggest room of any religious building in the
world. In addition to the main sanctuary were several smaller temples and a vast
sacred lake measuring 129 metres by 77 metres. One couldn’t help but stand in
awe of these magnificent structures. The Egyptians sure had a vast workforce,
time and money in those days.
The Valley of the Kings didn’t disappoint either. The ancient Egyptians didn’t just
build vast public monuments for their pharaohs but went to great lengths to create
hidden underground mausoleums. The Valley of the Kings was such a place and
was made famous by the discovery of the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and
Ramses II. Walking around and crawling into dusty tomes admiring what remained
of these places (even in the presence of hordes of tourists), made me feel like an
explorer.
leana
(Leana)
#1