Luxor Temple in Luxor City

The city of Luxor is located in the south of Egypt on the east bank of the river with 450,000 population, there’s some families belong to the dynasties of the pharaohs living in Luxor until this day, most of the citizens work at farming especially (sugar cane farming ), artworks, stone and metalwork beside the touristic traffic of the city, it has dry warm climate in winter, very hot days in summer and rarely if you saw falling rain or cloudy weather .the city of Luxor similar to an open air museum captures the heart of anyone steps the land and walks around its great obelisks.

Luxor City

Luxor served as the administrative capital of Upper Egypt during the Sixth Dynasty (3000–2100 B.C.). When the Hyksos invaded, they united Upper and Lower Egypt. They moved the royal court to Luxor, which remained the capital for over four centuries. Luxor features in all types of Egypt tours, including budget tours.

Names Of Luxor

Luxor symbolizes knowledge and learning, reflecting the pharaohs’ culture, and the Islamic, Greek, Roman, and Coptic eras. The ancient Egyptians first named it “Waste,” symbolizing power. Later, Muslim scientists and scholars admired its architecture and renamed it “Luxor,” meaning “places” in Arabic. Even before the Arabs, the Greek poet Homer mentioned Luxor in his Iliad as “Thebes,” describing it as the city of brightening gold and a hundred gates.

Luxor History

Luxor was one of the ancient capitals during the New and Middle Kingdoms. It was dedicated to the god Amon-Ra. The ancient Egyptians built temples and tombs with heavy stone to last for eternity. In contrast, common houses used regular stone, which eroded over time. This explains why the palaces vanished while the temples remain.

Luxor consists of the West Bank and the East Bank. The Egyptians believed the East Bank was for living and worshipping, so they built great temples there. The West Bank was for the afterlife, featuring tombs and underground graves like the Valley of the Kings and Queens.

Monuments Discovery

Known as “the Mother of Culture,” Luxor holds one-third of the world’s antiques and monuments. During the Islamic era, Luxor was a small village, and its monuments fell into ruin. A French scientist and his team discovered the city’s significance. They deciphered hieroglyphic signs, bringing international attention to Luxor.

The government then focused on protecting its monuments from pollution and urbanization. Today, Luxor has a domestic airport and Safaga Harbour. Located 650 km south of Cairo, it was named the capital of Arabic culture in 2017 for its tourism and economic impact.

Luxor temple

Luxor almost has 14 temples among them Luxor temple which was built by king Ramsess the second beside the Karnak temple, in general, there are two kinds of temples: funeral temples and worshipping temples, Luxor temple was originally dedicated to Amon god of the sun, Mut goddess of war and Khonsu the moon god

Luxor Temple Interior Design

When you enter the temple, you will pass through a huge gate decorated with scenes of King Ramses II and his Kadesh battle triumph. Next to the gate stand six massive statues of Ramses II: four are upright, and two are seated.

Inside, you will find two courtyards: one for Ramses II and one for King Amenhotep III. The Amenhotep courtyard features large black granite statues of the king and a pair of pink granite obelisks. One obelisk now stands in Place de la Concorde in France.

The courtyard leads to a colonnade that Amenhotep III built and later decorated with contributions from Tutankhamun and Seti I. Near the colonnade, two statues stand, often attributed to Tutankhamun, but some Egyptologists believe they belong to Ramses II.

Luxor temple also three chambers each one dedicated to one of the three gods.