Luxor is the world’s greatest open-air museum, but that doesn’t come close to describing this amazing place. There’s nothing like the grandeur of ancient Thebes.
Luxor is divided into three separate areas for visitors: the city of Luxor itself, which has five main roads: Market Street, Station Street, Karnak Street, Corniche El Nil Street, and Television Street, a busy area around which many budget hotels congregate in the city.
The East Bank at its heart is Luxor Temple, which is an elegant architectural masterpiece, its courtyards, and sanctuaries. The amazing Karnak Temple complex in addition to the Luxor Museum.
The West Bank is a world away from the hustle and bustle of Luxor and contains most of the city’s monuments with tombs and temples strung out at the edge of the desert.
Luxor West Bank attractions: Colossi of Memnon, Temple of Seti, Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Tombs of the Nobles, Deir Al-Medina, Deir al-Bahri, Hatshepsut Temple, Medinet Habu, and The Ramesseum.
The temple, which dominates this west-bank village 53 kilometres south of Esna, is one of the last ancient efforts at large scale construction. The well-preserved reliefs of the temple have supplied archaeologists with a wealth of information regarding temple rites and the authority of the priests.
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The location is today known as Umm al-Qa'ab (Mother of Pots), and it houses the mastaba tombs of Egypt's early pharaohs, notably those of Djer, the third pharaoh of the first dynasty (c 3000 BC).
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Although it was erected near the end of the Pharaonic period, the Temple of Hathor at her worship site of Dendera is one of the most iconic Egyptian structures, owing to its enormous stone roof and columns, gloomy rooms, subterranean crypts, and winding stairways all etched with hieroglyphs.
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It's a lovely area to spend a few hours late afternoon, with the Theban mountains in the background and the tranquil town of Kom Lolah in front.
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The Valley of the Queens has at least 75 graves. They belonged to queens of the 19th and 20th dynasties, as well as other royal family members such as princesses and Ramesside princes.
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The Valley of the Kings features 63 exquisite royal tombs from the New Kingdom era (1550–1069 BC), all remarkably distinct from each other.
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Deir Al-Medina is a small village located about 1 km off the main route to the Valley of the Queens, along a short, steep paved road. It was named after a temple that was formerly inhabited by early Christian monks. The Workmen's Village, a destroyed town next to the temple, is worth a visit.
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Ramses II dubbed his massive memorial temple 'the Temple of Millions of Years of User-Maat-Ra,' while classical visitors dubbed it the Tomb of Ozymandias, and Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered hieroglyphics, dubbed it the Ramesseum, after the Roman general who deciphered the language of the dead.
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The eyes are drawn to the dramatic rocky limestone cliffs that rise about 300m above the desert plain, a natural monument, only to discover that at the foot of all this tremendous grandeur lies an even more astonishing man-made monument, the glittering Temple of Hatshepsut.
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The two faceless Colossi of Memnon, which rise magnificently from the plain roughly 18 metres above it, are the first monuments that visitors to the West Bank witness when they arrive.
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Taking a cab over the bridge, 6km south of the town, or crossing on the ancient ferry, you'll be in the beautiful Egyptian countryside, with brilliant green sugarcane fields along irrigation canals and clusters of colourful dwellings, all set against the backdrop of the desert and the Theban highlands.
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Luxor Temple, mostly constructed by the pharaohs Amenhotep III (1380–1352 BC) and Ramses II (1279–1213 BC), is a breathtakingly elegant edifice in the centre of the current metropolis.
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According to New Kingdom records, the priests of the Temple of Amun held 421,000 livestock, 65 towns, 83 ships, and 691,000 acres of agricultural land, indicating its economic as well as spiritual importance.
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Despite the presence of an increasing number of visitors, the East Bank of Luxor remains a lively provincial metropolis.
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Luxor is the world's largest open-air museum, yet it hardly describes it. There's nothing like ancient Thebes, & florence Nightingale compared it to Shakespeare's works. It's one of the few spots in the world that really stands out.
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