Our last full day of sightseeing in Egypt took us to the temples of Luxor and Karnak. Starting at Luxor after breakfast, we walked along an impressive avenue lined with sphinxes leading to the partner of the obelisk in Place du Concorde in Paris. Just beyond the obelisk, the entrance to the temple is flanked by two gigantic statues of Ramses II.
The temple was constructed mainly in 1400 BC and contains several statues of Ramses II moved from the Ramasseum. This is because the Ramasseum has been flooded several times and the statues were in danger. They have been set up between columns throughout the temple complex.
In the rear of the complex, a church was created in one of the shrines during the very early Christian era. Some of the paint can still be seen on the walls.
After Luxor and before Karnak, we visited a perfume factory owned by the Al Fayed family. Al Fayed owned both Harrod’s Department store in London and the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the time. His son, Dodi, was killed in the car crash that killed Princess Diana.
As impressive as Luxor Temple is, Karnak surpasses it. Karnak Temple was built over a span of roughly 1,100 years and is massive. At one point the avenue of sphinxes at Luxor joined up with the avenue of rams in front of Karnak. The oldest part of the temple is the Temple of Ptah, which is so tiny, it was difficult to try to take a photo inside, especially since I wasn’t exactly alone. The newest structure is the entrance pylon. The main precinct of the complex (and the only part open to the public) is dedicated to Amen-Re, the sun god.
Probably the most famous part is the Hypostyle Hall, mainly built by Ramses II. This is a huge hall with massive columns covered in hieroglyphics. Originally it had a roof over it. Here and there are still some remaining pieces of the roof.
Hatshepsut had been busy there too. She made some important contributions to the Hypostyle Hall and built a small, red temple. There is a large obelisk of hers still standing and another that has collapsed. The Unfinished Obelisk in Aswan was supposed to have gone here too. There originally were several statues of her. As elsewhere, her immediate successors tried to erase anything in reference to her. Some of the statues were destroyed. Some had walls built in front of them so nobody could see them. I have a photo of one of the statues that had been behind a wall. King Tut is also represented by a statue.
Karnak is one of the few temples that still has its sacred lake. This might be partially because it is huge. It is also lined in stone with steps leading down into it. The lake was used for ritual bathing by the priests and for the geese that lived in the complex.
In addition to an initial guided tour by our Egyptologist, we had a lot of free time at Karnak to explore the parts that are open to the public on our own. I tried to keep Hatshepsut’s obelisk in view so I wouldn’t get lost in the maze of walls, columns, statues, obelisks, and piles of rubble. I managed to find my way back out when it was time to do so despite that fact that I pretty much explored every part I could get to (and possibly even some parts that I really wasn’t supposed to be – as I was the only one there and there seemed to be some excavating going on).
We flew back to Cairo from Luxor on Egypt Air. Then I flew from Cairo to JFK in NYC and on to Minneapolis. The entire trip was so memorable and I am so glad I took the opportunity to see Egypt when I could.
