Luxor Things to Do Tips by Diana75

The Valley of the Kings (ancient Thebes) lies about 7km from the Nile on the west bank and is one of the most amazing discoveries made in Egypt.

Here is the place where bodies of Tutankhamoun, Ramses II, Ramses IV, Tutmose III and many other kings once lay.

It is said that the Pharaoh Tutmose I decided to build this kind of burial ground due to the frequent tomb rubbings.

Inside the tombs inscriptions from the Book for the Dead provided instructions for how the Pharaoh may have a safe trip to the next world and how to avoid the dangers that lay on the way.

The tombs in the Valley of the Kings belong to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Families.

Here are 62 tombs, including some small tombs which are not considered royal.

Leave a Comment

Although not all the tombs are always open to visitors, the more interesting ones usually are.

We visited three tombs, Ramses IX (KV6 - 20th Dynasty), Merenptah (KV8) and Ramses IV (KV2 - 20th Dynasty) assigned by the ticketing office according to the number of visitors.

The tombs are electrically lighted and give a more impressive image, exposing more of the artistic detail.

Leave a Comment

Tut-Ankh-Amun Tomb (now permanently closed) is near Merenptah tomb, which we visited.

The tomb was discovered by the English Lord Carter under the tomb of Ramses VI.

Actually it was discovered by mistake: inside Ramses VI's funeral room was an opening going down to Tut-Ankh-Amun's tomb, the only one found intact.

All the items found in the tomb, except a sarcophagus and the Tut-Ankh-Amun's mummy, were moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

It's interesting that Tut-Ankh-Amun is well-known in history because of his wealthy and not because of his personal accomplishments.

Leave a Comment

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, known today as El Deer El Bahary, is located on the Luxor's west bank at the north end of the necropolis, about 6 kms from the Nile.

Hatshepsut, the only woman that ever ruled as Pharaoh, set up her own mortuary temple and followed her father's example of having the temple built to better secure her body.

The temple was built during the 18th Dynasty and consists mainly of three terraces linked by ramps.

The first ramp presents queen Hatshepsut giving birth from god Ra, the second one presents queen Hatshepsut journey to Bot country (today Sudan) for where she brought spices and scents and the third one, where is also the Saint of the Saints, has been transformed by the Roman Christians at their arrival on this site.

Leave a Comment

Colossi of Memnon are two huge statues of Amenhotep III which were originally placed in front of the mortuary temple of the king.

The temple was destroyed throughout the centuries, but it is said that it was built of white sandstone, gold and silver.

The statues show Amenhotep seated on his throne with the two Nile gods of upper and lower Egypt uniting the two lands, at his sides.

It is also interesting to know that on the right of each statue appears a small figure of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III and on the left Queen Mutemua, his mother.

The Colossi are made of sandstone.

Leave a Comment

Karnak Temple, actually the Karnak site, is situated on the East Bank about 3.5km from the Luxor Temple and is the largest of its kind in the world.

The circumference of the temple is of about 4km and the largest temple in Karnak site is Amun Temple, a great Pharaonic God.

The explanation for the site's dimension is given by the fact that although it was originally founded during the Middle Kingdom, the dynasties that came afterwards continued build.

The great front yard was built by Ethiopians, while the Shashank gate and the hall of columns by King Ramsis II.

Behind these great buildings lies the obelisk built by Queen Hatshepsut, then the granite temple and the feasts hall established by King Thotmos III.

On the far horizon appears the holy lake, the remains of Osiris tomb, the series of the southern walls, the temple of the infant god Khonso and Obet Temple.

Leave a Comment

Beside the interesting visits to Luxor sites, we also stopped to a so called Papyrus Institute, actually a store that sells original papyruses.

The visit started with a interesting and detailed presentation of this plant discovered by the Egyptians more than 4,000 years ago.

The Egyptians considered it saint because its flower has the form of a solar disk (it is known the special connections that the Egyptians had with the sun and Amun-Ra).

The trunk of the plant, due to its triangular section, was associated with the trinity of the Egyptian gods, the Pyramids and obelisks.

Special motives seen frequently on papyruses:

- The last judgment - presents what happens with a person after dead.
- The tree of life - with five birds representing the eternity.
- The Egyptian calendar - with four figures representing the cardinal points, four women representing the seasons, 12 persons representing the months, 24 figures representing the hours of a day and inside the central disk are presented the signs of the zodiac.
- Cartouches with the names and the zodiac sign.

Leave a Comment

Luxor Temple is located on the East Bank in the center of Luxor, separated from the Nile by Luxor's Corniche.

The temple was built as the secret settlement of the Lord of Gods - namely "Amoun" who took the figure of "Mein", the God of Fertility and Reproduction in Egyptian mythology.

The Luxor temple was built by Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty.

Once every year, a great feast was held to transport the statue of god Amoun from the Karnak temple through the river to visit Luxor temple, which was called "The Southern Harem".

The temple is marked by its rear rooms with prominent inscriptions, and the hall of columns whose crowns represent the figure of lotus flower.

King Ramsis II added a front yard made of the beautiful sandstone.

He also surrounded it with a row of columns, decorated it with statues made of granite or Aswan stone, and established in front of the temple a great palace ornamented by two granite obelisks, one of which was transferred to Concord square in Paris in 1836.

Leave a Comment

All the tourists in Luxor are so concentrated on the well-known tourist sites, forgetting sometimes that just a simple walk in the city can offer the opportunity to admire nice buildings such as the Winter Palace.

Leave a Comment