Karnak and Luxor Temples

Breakfast at 7:30am today in readiness for two visits to the temples at Karnak and Luxor. The boat was berthed to the south of Luxor and at the side of the berth was a wooded park with picnic tables. As well as it being Easter Monday, it was also a public holiday in Egypt and as we travelled towards Karnak Temple we could see that the streets of Luxor were very busy with people enjoying the holiday.

Karnak Temple

Karnak was one of the most important religious centres in ancient times and the temple was added to by successive pharaohs over thirteen centuries. The entrance to Karnak Temple is down the famous ceremonial Avenue of Sphinxes. The temple walls are covered in hieroglyphs telling the story of Tuthmosis III and his conquest of Syria and Sudan. The temple used to have two obelisks erected by Hatshepsut, one remains standing, the top of the other can be seen near the sacred lake.

Entrance to Karnak Temple

The most amazing thing I found about this temple was the size and quantity of columns in the hypostyle hall. The 137 columns cover 6000 square metres and are accurately aligned and placed. The work took place between 1306 BC and 1224 BC. The columns were constructed by placing blocks of stone on top of each other to create the basic column and then carved afterwards. Those of you familiar with the Bond films may recognise them from one of Mr Bond's battles with 'Jaws'.

Columns in the hypostyle hall

As I photographed the various buildings, a rather large armed guard summoned me over. Not wishing to argue it appeared that he 'sold' prime photographic spots at 5LE a time. This was probably a bit pricey but I decided not to argue with him as he showed me past the 'No Entry' signs. However, as I emerged, having taken my photographs, he was summoned by someone whom I assume was his superior, presumably either for a telling off or a shareout of the ''baksheesh'. Still, the photographs turned out.

Inside Karnak Temple showing the obelisks. From the photographs, it appears that they are not truly vertical. Even when you see them in real life, the appear not to be vertical. However, they are both absolutely spot on ! Even more incredible, they have no 'cement' or bolts at their base. The are just stood upright on a stone block and have been like that for 3000 years. When Hatshepsut was out of the way, Tuthmosis III set about defacing her cartouches and walled up her 320 ton obelisk. Unwittingly, he was actually preserving it for us to see today !

Obelisks at Karnak Temple

We had about a two hour stay at Karnak. The site is so large and there is so much to see that two hours just isn't enough to take it all in. The next stop was Luxor Temple which is about 3km away from Karnak. The coach journey took us through the narrow streets, around the outer walls of Karnak Temple and as we passed the southern exit, another set of sphinxes was visible.

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple is in the middle of Luxor and was connected to Karnak Temple by an avenue of sphinxes in ancient times. Unlike Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple is mainly the work of one pharaoh - Amenhotep III - between 1414 BC and 1397 BC and was added to by Tutankhamun, Horemheb, Ramesses II and Alexander the Great. When Amenhotep died, his son Akhenaten took over and rejected all religion other than worship of Aten. He moved the capital away from Thebes (Luxor) so development stopped. When Akhenaten died, the old religions returned, along with the priests so the temple began to expand again. As time went by, the temple became covered with debris and dirt and only the tops of the columns were visible. Houses and villas had been built on top, along with the mosque of Abu 'l-Haggag (Luxor's patron saint who lies in the mosque). When excavations began in the nineteenth century, houses were removed bit by bit but the mosque was kept intact following uproar from the Luxor inhabitants as the annual Abu 'l-Haggag festival is one of the largest in Egypt.

Entrance to Luxor Temple

The avenue of sphinxes leading up to the first pylon of Luxor Temple. At one time, these stretched the 3 kms to the temple at Karnak. While Luxor Temple also has many columns (which unfortunately were destabilised following a modern times evening music concert and had to be fixed !) they are not as plentiful or as awe inspiring as the ones at Karnak. However the temple still has lots to see including a Peristyle Court, Hypostyle Hall and a Colonnade whose walls depict the annual Opet festival and the gods of Karnak.

Luxor Sphinxes

The Sanctuary area in Luxor Temple. Looking out from the sanctuary, you can see the Hypostyle Hall and courtyard. This dates from Amenhotep III. In the Birth Room, Amenhotep's mother Mutemwia can be seen being impregnated by Amun and giving birth to the new pharaoh to be. His body and spirit are formed on a potter's wheel by a ram-headed creator-god Khnum. The room is 'guarded' by a chap will will be only too pleased to show you this ... for 'baksheesh' of course !

Luxor Temple Sanctuary area

On returning to the boat, we went for lunch which featured a well presented Easter lunch with a guest appearance from some Easter chicks ! The afternoon was spent at leisure in the Egyptian sunshine. After the evening meal, a quiz night had been set up and it seemed a little strange to see fellow guests discussing tactics and strategy !