The Luxor Temple, Egypt

Luxor Temple, or the Temple of Luxor, is one of the most beautiful temples in Egypt. He was known in the New Kingdom period as Ipt-Rsyt, meaning southern sanctuary. It was the difference between this Temple and Karnak Temple, which was the home of Amon Ra north.

Amenhotep III built the temple of Luxor. The architect and supervisor of the construction was the genius Amenhotep, son of Habu. The Temple Run near and parallel to the river Nile from north to south. It was built on the site of a small Temple of Amon, built by kings of the dynasty 12 At the time of the temple of Amenhotep III only 190m long and 55m wide, it was. Basically, Luxor Temple was dedicated to Amun Ra in his fertility aspect.

Ramses II, with the help of his architect Pak Khonso added before and finished the Temple. He said the large courtyard and pylon present in the (north) side of the temple. Reyes Merenpetah, Seti I, Ramses III, Ramses IV and Ramses VI built many more small additions. Alexander the Great rebuilt the sanctuary.
During the Christian era, the inner section became a church. The Muslims built a mosque in the 10th century, which is known as Abu al-Hagag Mosque.

Nektanebo king built the Sphinx Avenue in front of the temple leading to the entrance. In front of the great tower of Ramses II, were once two obelisks. Only one remains standing! The other was taken in 1819 at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, as a gift to King Louis Philippe of France by Mohamed Ali (who ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1850 AD), after it was given a French clock, which has never worked properly - even to this day!

There were six statues standing in front of the tower, one of them on the west side, is still in place.

Flanking the door of the first tower, which is 24 m high, two seated colossi of Ramesses II, seated on his throne, with all the actual characteristics. The two towers of this pylon were once decorated with relief depicting the Battle of Kadesh, fought between the armies of Egypt and the Hittites in Syria today. The first public hearing has two rows of columns 32 papyrus bud.

To the right of the public hearing is not an old triple shrine made ​​by Queen Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III, dedicated to the sacred "Triad of Thebes" vases. On the left is the Abu El-Hagag mosque.

The public hearing of Ramses II led to the colonnade, which was built by Amenhotep III, and decorated by Tutankhamen and later, Horemheb; Seti I, Ramses II and Seti II all recorded their names there. It consists of two pairs of large open papyrus columns, they are willing to make a long processional avenue. The walls of this colonnade are decorated with scenes of the clause rental, special ceremonies for the visit of the "Triad of Karnak" at Luxor Temple. This part lasted for about 24 days, including the return to the temple of Karnak.