Luxor - Egypt - 02.01.2008

......Luxor is unique in Egypt. It's green and has a lot of temples. Pharaons fought for spaces to build their homes/shrines/tombs.

......Before getting to Luxor, the road goes along some chanels of the Nile. So everything is green. There are some crops, grass, palm trees. it's totally different from the northern part where all you can see is yellow sand and rocks.

......Some of the temples are well preserved, like the ones that are now touristic attractions: Karnak, Luxor, Hatshepsut. There are also the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.

......There was a sort of competition in Ancient Egypt. Who's temple is bigger, who's tomb is deeper and richer. What you see know overwhelmes you. Everything is huge for only one person. And they only had human labour. Poor people.

......The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings. This was ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places"), the main place of worship of the Theban Triad with Amun as its head, in the monumental city of Thebes. The complex retrieves its current name from the nearby and partly surrounding modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5km north of Luxor.

The drawings on the colums tell a story. The story of Amon Ra. And if it's not his story, for sure he must be involved somehow. The obelisc can be noticed in the background. There are 2 left here. The third is in Paris, in Place Concorde.

The one in the middle is missing. It's all Napoleon's fault.

Collosi of Memnon. The twin statues depict Amenhotep III in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze facing eastwards, towards the river. The Valley of the Kings
The tomb of Tutankamon
Crossing the Nile
Hatshepsut Temple. Djeser-Djeseru is the main building of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri. Designed by Senemut, her vizier, the building is an example of perfect symmetry that predates the Parthenon, and it was the first complex built on the site she chose, which would become the Valley of the Kings .
Luxor Temple, by night

Free Blog Counter
Poker Blog