Luxor Temple in Egypt
On the right bank of the Nile, not far from the famous Luxor Temple, is the modern city of Luxor. It is built on the site of ancient Thebes and is home to about 60,000 people. The Arabic word for “Luxor” is “el-Uqsor,” which is the plural of “el-Qasr,” which means “camp” or “fortification.” This is because there were two Roman military camps in the area.
The huge structures that the Egyptians built to honor their gods show how important religion was to people in the past. The Luxor Temple is a great example because it was used by many different pharaohs over the years. The result is a beautiful building that not only shows how much the Egyptians loved their gods but also how powerful and beautiful the ancient Egyptian Empire was.
In the courtyard, there are 74 columns, and each one has a picture of the pharaoh with other gods. Ramses II added a central shrine that had chapels for the gods Amun, Mut, and Junsu. They were where the holy boats were kept.
Temple Luxor of Egypt.
The inside of the Amun temple was built during the reign of Amenhotep III, and the outside of the temple was built during the reign of Ramses II. Tutankhamun, Horemheb, and even Alexander the Great himself encouraged their workers to leave their mark on a great time so that they would be remembered forever.
Amenhotep III.
The Luxor Temple is 260 meters long, and it is connected to the Karnak Temple by a long street lined with sphinxes that used to have rams’ heads but now have human heads.
The Temple of Luxor in Egypt:
The entrance to the temple is marked by the 65-meter-tall pylon that was built by Ramses II. The famous Poem of Pentaur, which praises Ramses II’s military successes, is carved inside, as are sculptures showing the pharaoh’s fight against the Hittites.
Before, two obelisks of Ramses II rose to the sky in front of the pylon to disperse harmful forces and draw celestial powers to the temple. Today, only the 25-meter-tall obelisk on the left remains, as the other was moved to France in 1833 and is now in the middle of the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
On each side of the entrance, there are two statues of the Pharaoh sitting on his throne. Each one is made of red granite and stands on a pedestal that is 1 meter high. When you cross the triumphal arch, you’ll be in the grand Court of Rameses II, which has a double row of columns with papyriform capitals and sculptures of Osiris in the spaces between the columns. The court also builds the small temple of Thutmose III. It has three chapels for the gods Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.
Then we walk into the court of Amenophis III, which has an impressive colonnade that is 25 meters long and has a double row of papyriform columns on three sides. The front of the temple is also pretty impressive. It has a few small chapels along its walls and is decorated with religious scenes and, in some places, scenes from the war with the alliance of Syriacs and Haitians.
The first parts of the Luxor temple were a large colonnade with fourteen papyriform columns that were 19 meters high and had a circle that was about 10 meters in diameter. On the east and west
sides of the temple was a wall with reliefs that showed scenes from the Opet festival. During Tutankhamun’s reign (1334-1325 B.C. ), the colonnade was built and decorated. It led to the beautiful courtyard, which was surrounded by a double row of columns and bordered on the south by the hypostyle hall. From there, people can go into the temple’s inner sanctum, which has four antechambers, a few other rooms, and the sanctuary of the holy boat, whose pavilion was rebuilt by Alexander the Great.
The Luxor Temple at Night.
The temple has a wide central courtyard, a hypostyle hall, a vestibule, and a sanctuary, which are all typical features of classical buildings. When people walked into the temple, they would see a poem written by Pentaur that talked about the pharaoh’s strategic values. At the front, there were two 25-meter-tall obelisks. One of these obelisks is still there, but the other was given to the Place
de la Concorde in Paris by Mohamed Ali in 1836. At the entrance, you can see sitting statues of Ramses II that are so big they are hard to believe. They are decorated with pictures of prisoners who stand in for the nine people Egypt beat. There are two of them, and together they are over 15 and a half meters tall and made of grey granite.
What you should know about the well-known temple in Luxor:
When the Exodus happened, which king was in charge of Egypt?
One interesting thing about this temple is that Ramses II’s son will be the one to open it. There are rumors that Ramses II, who may have lived to be 94 years old, had more than a hundred children between his four royal wives and any secondary or concubine women. This etching of the royal lineage shows Prince Merneptah as number 13. He is thought to have been Ramses II’s successor. Ramses II was the pharaoh who was in power when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.
The Abu’l Haggag Mosque in Luxor Temple.
To find the Luxor Temple, it took a long time and a lot of dirt. This has led to a mosque being built on top of one of the walls of the temple as soon as you walk inside. This mosque, which is at least a thousand years old, was chosen to be kept because it is a sign of how two monotheistic religions and one polytheistic religion can live together.
History and the many works of art in this temple show that different religions were practiced in the same place at different times. For example, along with the gods of Old Egypt, Muslims also worshipped in the mosque, and Christians worship in a chapel at the end of the temple.
Church built inside the Temple of Luxor’s walls.
The Corinthian capitals at the end of the temple are one thing that will definitely catch your eye. When we walk in, you’ll see that this is where a Christian church used to be, so we’ll see some frescoes that haven’t been taken care of very well.
Alexander the Great at a temple in Luxor.
At this temple, there are also many paintings and carvings of sacrifices and boats leaving port. Alexander the Great set up this room, and because he treated ancient Egypt with respect and care, it is shown in the reliefs of the temple. You can see how he was made the son of a god, making him immortal before the god Amon.