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Architectural plan & information for Luxor Temple
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In the middle of the city of Luxor you find Luxor temple. Although maybe the most excavated temple in the world, just by chance some few years ago it was here found several statues that had been placed under earth in Pharaonic times. The statues is so well preserved and unique that they got a own hall in Luxor Museum. Still the temple lie here in middle of the town, and one may wonder when next time it will revail some more of its secrets...
The temple is built to the Theban Triad. This is the sun god Amon-Ra who became one of the primal gods through the worship of him in ancient Waset. Second part of this triad was his wife the goddess Mut. She was both the eye of the sun and the mother of the sun, and one can fairly easily recognise her in relief's as she wear her vulture crown. Nekhbet the vulture goddess being the protective goddess for all of Upper Egypt (from Cairo and south). The third part of the triad was their son Khonsu who was one of the Moon gods. He was also often called "traveler" as he as the moon traversed the sky.
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AmenHotep III is given the honor of initiating the building of this temple some three thousand four hundred year ago. Still you will find just inside the first pylon (#2) three shrines for the Theban triad, built during the reign of Hatshepsut and ThothMoses III (#4). Turn around from these shrines and on the other side you will see a door far up on the wall. The door belong to the old and holy mosque of Abu Al Haggag (#3), and the height of the door (now opening into thin air) tell us how high the sand was that covered the temple before excavations began. All this in the court of Ramses II, which was built 150 years after AmenHotep started this larger temple complex.
If possible, we recommend to visit the temple during sun set or just after - as it give a very special and "magical" feeling to walk around in this temple at these hours (and some of the reliefs are more easy to see in this light).
Talking about feelings, strong feelings was not strange for the ancient Egyptians. Anyone who ever read a love poem from ancient Egypt will know. So after you have seen the Ramses court of the temple, note the marble statue which is the first thing you will see on the right side (#5) when entering the colonnade. This statue show TutAnchAmon and his wife sitting together, but go behind them and look at how she holds her arm around him. Well, that's a love poem in marble if there ever was any.
Don't just walk through the colonnade yet as the reliefs here got one of the most interesting and important stories found in Luxor (#6). On the relief on the left side wall you can see how Amon-Ra is taken from Karnak Temple in a boat and pulled up to Luxor temple during the yearly Opet festival. Note the dancers, the musicians and all the food and wine. This party-festival lasted in Luxor temple before Amon-Ra was taken back to Karnak as shown on the left wall in the colonnade.
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The court of Amenhotep III is newly restored as some of the columns had started to tilt due to the rising ground water (a major problem for most monuments in Egypt today). It was also in this court the mentioned wonderful statues were found some years ago.
Going deeper into the temple you will come to an area that was used as church earlier and some of the Biblical fresco is still intact (#7).
The holiest part of the temple is the temple inside the temple, a small room where Amon-Ra stood while in the temple. This part was restored during Alexander the Great; so many of the figures outside this shrine is representing Alexander the Great in full Pharaonic costume (#8).
Outside again in front of the large entrance pylons, note two parts:
First, there is only one of the large obelisk's standing (#1) - and reason for this is that Mohamed Ali Pasha gave the other to France in 1819. That's the one today standing on Place De Concorde in Paris.
Second part to note is the reliefs on the pylon (#2). Among others this describes the first Peace Treaty know in world history, and we know the peace treaty lasted as well. May Luxor temple still inspire world leaders with its historic message...
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Find more about:
Hatshepsut's Terrasse Temple
Nobles Tombs
Luxor Map
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Kart & tekst, Arnvid Aakre
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