Temple of Luxor Facts, History, architecture

Temple of Luxor Facts, History, architecture | Egyptian Temples, Monuments.

Discover History Of Egyptian Civilization & Best and Famous Pharaonic Tourist attractions in Luxor city “Thebes”.

Temple of Luxor Historical facts:

Temple of Luxor was completely covered by sand in 1960 AD until the sand level reached the shoulders of the statue of King Ramses II made of black granite. At the same time, there were residential buildings for the people of Abu Haggag village that were built inside the middle of the temple in the Hall of Columns. When the Ministry of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities was established by Wagdi Pasha, all these buildings were purchased, removed, the sand was disposed of, and the temple was completely cleaned in 1970 AD.
The temple was built in 1400 BC.
The temple was built to worship the ancient Egyptian gods Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu, the triad of Thebes.”
The temple foundations were built on a north-south axis..
Engineer Amenhotep son of Hapu was the one who did the architectural design and supervised the complete construction of the temple until the end.

Why did they build the Luxor Temple?

In the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the city of Thebes is the holy city, and from it the first god appeared on the holy hill in the area of Medinet Habu.

With the passage of time and the beginning of the creation of other gods, they then ascended to the sky and left the God Amun Ra As death On earth among mankind as their successor in the city of Thebes.

The idol is considered Amun-Ra-Ka-Mut-Af He is the main god in the Luxor Temple, where he took the place where the temple was built as his headquarters on the ground and it became the sacred hill.

Therefore, the temple was built to worship the god Amun.

How was the Luxor Temple constructed?

The entire temple was built with an area of 803 feet in length and 181 feet in width.

Once you enter Luxor Temple after passing the security area, checking tickets and bags, and going down the stairs, you find the following…

Avenue of Sphinxes:

A 2700 meter-long road connecting Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple, paved with a stone floor, and on both sides there are 34 stone statues in the shape of the Sphinx, starting from Al-Maqshaqish Mosque Even the first pylon of the Luxor Temple, starting from the mosque, shows stone statues in the form of rams on both sides.

Mud brick walls were built around the Avenue of Sphinxes to prevent people from crossing the sacred road during the celebrations of the pharaohs and the passage of the procession of the god Amun.

Roman shrine Isis

The cabin was built of mud bricks for the worship of the goddess Isis in the Roman era by the military commander Uranus Military campaign leader in the era of the king’s rule Augustus Caesar.

The stone statue of the god, which is currently inside the cabin, was discovered in 1954. Isis statue was buried in an area far from the cabin but was restored and placed as it is now.

Obelisks of King Ramses II

The obelisks were built of red granite during the reign of King Ramses II, the most famous pharaoh of the 19th Egyptian dynasty.
Details of the Battle of Kadesh are carved on the face of the first obelisk.
There were two obelisks in front of the first monument. One obelisk was moved during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha to Place de la Concorde in Paris,France in 1836 AD, “in return, Egypt received a clock as a gift, which is currently located in the Citadel of Muhammad Ali,” as the obelisk was as long as23 meters, weighs 220 tons While the current obelisk is in the eastern direction, erected in front of the northern tower 22.52 meters long, weighing 257 tons, and with a base 2.5 meters above the ground.

Texts of the obelisk inscriptions:

The base of the eastern obelisk contains a carving of 4 Baboons Dancing, cheering, chanting, and making loud shouts and screams at the time of sunrise from the east, then texts written in the ancient Egyptian language, then a scene of King Ramses II presenting sacrifices to the god Amun.

The baboon is considered a sacred animal to the sun god in the religion of the ancient Egyptians, and its name was mentioned in the Pharaonic books as being responsible for opening the gates to the sky in the other world.

From the top it is written

King of the North and the South, Lord of the Two Lands, King Ramses II, Son of the God Ra, Lord of Crowns, King Ramses II, built this great monument, an immortal monument “Luxor Temple”, when this monument was built for the son of the god Amun-Ra who created its beauty.

Middle class

“He made this great monument to the father of the god Amun-Ra when he erected for him two great obelisks of very hard stone for the father to last forever in the temple of Amun-Ra in the house of Amun.”

The first Monument:

The monument was built to a height of 24 metres and a width of 65 metres.

In front of the monument there are 4 standing statues, then two seated statues of King Ramses II in the middle directly in front of the entrance gate.

Daily offerings were made to the statues of King Ramses II sitting in front of the main gate, as they were considered the image of King Ramses II living on earth while he was in the afterlife, where priests were appointed to serve them and perform all the religious rituals and rites of the king.

Battle of Kadesh on the walls of the first edifice:

King Ramses II led a strong battle to fight the enemy Hittites in his second year after assuming the throne of ancient Egypt.

The battle began on the eastern borders of Egypt towards the Orontes River in Syria with 4 military divisions consisting of 33 thousand soldiers: “The divisions of the god Amun, the division of the god Ptah, the division of the god Set, and the division of the god Ra.”

The walls of the first pylon of the Luxor Temple were painted with inscriptions and scenes that tell of the Battle of Kadesh, where the Egyptian army was defeated on the first day due to the deception and lies of the captured Hittite soldiers.

The Hittite soldiers said that the Hittite army moved towards the east and not the north, and while King Ramses II was resting in the royal tent, an attack and fierce battles took place and the battle stopped with sunset “according to the traditions of ancient wars.”

On the morning of the second day, King Ramses II sent for the second division to be summoned, and the battle began fiercely between the soldiers. King Ramses II’s royal chariot fell and almost killed King Ramses II.

The king was saved from death and the enemies were fought fiercely. With sunset on the second day, the Egyptian army lost many soldiers.

On the morning of the third day, the third and fourth divisions were called in and the battle began. The king surrounded the enemy from the south and north and completely besieged the city until the Egyptian army was victorious and the Hittite king fled. Victory and triumph were declared, and the Hittite army withdrew completely and the city of Kadesh was seized.

Roman Tower:

The height of the tower was the same as the height of the first edifice of the Roman castle that was built during the Roman Kingdom era. The tower contained upper openings for placing flags and banners.

Shrines of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III:

Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose III built 3 shrines for the annual festival boats of the three Egyptian gods.

King Ramses II dismantled the chapels and reassembled them incorrectly in the architectural design, drawings and inscriptions on the walls after constructing his own monument within 3 years and the courtyard of columns.

Church:

The Church of Abba Nofer was built at the end of the fourth century AD and the entry of the Christian era into Egypt. It has a special entrance from the other eastern side. It went through developments and stages of neglect and sand accumulation and is completely closed.

Abu Haggag Mosque

Sheikh Abu Haggag built the small mosque above the church, which is still in operation and open for visitors.

The second edifice

The first courtyard:

King Ramses II built the first courtyard, the “Celebration Courtyard,” in the first year of his reign in ancient Egypt. The first phase ended after two years, then the decoration and drawing phase ended after 6 years of continuous work by sculptors and artists in ancient Egypt.

The courtyard was used for gathering people during ancient Egyptian celebrations.

The western gate connected to the port to connect

The first courtyard contains 4 main doors, which are…

The main gate of the temple sanctuary.
The western gate connected to the port to connect to the Luxor Temple to enter the offerings.
The eastern door is for the general public to enter during celebrations only.
The southern door leading to the Holy of Holies.

The ceremonial courtyard contains 74 columns in 3 rows, above which is the memorial text of King Ramses II, glorifying and sanctifying the worship of the god Horus and the god Seshet.

Scenes were drawn on the walls of the columns representing the offerings by King Ramses II and his sons to the Egyptian gods, in addition to a scene of the procession of the boat of the god Amun coming from the Karnak Temple until it settled in the courtyard and the entry of offerings from the offering gate for the opet festival, such as calves and buffaloes, to be sacrificed and slaughtered to approach the god Amun.

Opet Festival

It is celebrated in the third month of the Nile River flood season (mid-October to mid-November), as the annual timing of the Nile River flood was from July of each year, and it is considered the largest of the ancient Egyptian Pharaonic festivals.

It was believed that the god Amun came from the Karnak Temple to renew his divine ownership of the land of the Luxor Temple as a result of the flooding of the Nile River leaving new silt that renewed the layer of the earth and made the land suitable for agriculture in a new way.

The celebration of Opet Festival during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut (the 18th Egyptian Dynasty) was carried out on foot between the two temples. There were 6 rest stops on the Avenue of Sphinxes for the priests of the Temple of Amun and the kings and queens of the pharaohs. The road connecting the two temples was covered in 3 days, with a total duration of 10 days.

The boat procession took place during the reign of King Amenhotep III to King Tutankhamun across the Nile River and back again across the river. The celebration lasted for 15 days.

Starting from the reign of King Ramesses III (Ramesside period, 20th Dynasty of Egypt), the procession would come across the Nile River and return on foot via the Avenue of Sphinxes to the Karnak Temple.

One of the traditions is the union of the god Amun, the god of Karnak Temple, with the god Amun, the god of Luxor Temple, in the sacred chamber, the “southern sacred hall,” to renew kingship, youth, vitality, and life.

First courtyard wall drawings:

A view of the entry of the procession of buffalo sacrifices and farmers through the western sacrifice gate. We notice that the buffalo are fat and of large weights and are designated for slaughter during the Opet Festival.

The buffalo’s head was decorated with a Nubian head and another with a Hittite head to indicate the head of a calf as if it were cutting off the heads of enemies and another with a feather.

At the beginning of the procession, a picture of King Ramses II was carved, then the sons of King Ramses II and the royal family, such as King Merneptah “No. 5”. It is known that King Ramses II had 45 sons and 108 daughters.

A view of the first monument and the presence of the two obelisks in front of the main gate and the main facade at the time of its opening in the fifth year of the reign of King Ramses II.

Royal Ka statues of King Ramses II:

The two statues represent the living image of King Ramses II on earth and above in heaven in the afterlife. Likewise, they had religious rituals and daily offerings to them and priests in their service.

The statues were broken by an earthquake but were restored as they are now.

On the base of the first statue is a view of the god Abi, “the god of the north and the god of the south”, a symbol of the Nile River meeting together.

Hall 14 Columns:

The columns were built during the reign of King Amenhotep III and contain many pharaonic cartouches bearing the names of the pharaohs, starting from King Amenhotep III to King Horemheb of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty, with the name of King Ramses II carved on the base of each column.

The walls of the columns contain scenes that tell in detail the stages of the OPEC celebration.

Statue of King Tutankhamun Temple of Luxor

Statue of the god Amun:

On the right we find the statue of the god Amun and the statue of the god Mut, and likewise on the left. The statues were carved from soapstone alabaster and were built during the reign of King Tutankhamun of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty. The name of King Ramses II was carved at the base of the two statues.

Open Column Hall:

64 columns with capitals in the shape of the budded pharaonic lotus flower were built, the architectural design of the courtyard is square.

Luxor Temple Cache:

During the restoration work in 1988 AD to dismantle and install the column bases in the Great Hypostyle Hall of the temple after the Nile River water leaked into the sand bases and caused a defect in the stone bases, the Luxor Cache was discovered in 1989 AD as follows…

Black granite base.
26 stone statues from the reign of King Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty) made of sandstone until the reign ofKing Shoshenq III”Family 22″.
A group of bronze statues.

The statues were completely transferred and are now on display in the Luxor Museum on the banks of the Nile.

Roman Temple Hall

Roman emperors and knights are painted on the walls of the small temple hall, the temple was built in the era of Emperor Augustus.

Hall

The hall was built to place offerings in it and no one from the general public was allowed to enter it.

The walls of the hall contain scenes of King Amenhotep III offering sacrifices to the god Amun-Ra, such as the slaughter of 4 calves, a scene of roasting meat, a scene of offering fruits and vegetables, and scenes of the king offering incense and wine to the ancient Egyptian gods.

Alexander the Great’s cabin

Divine Birth Room

I was assigned to attend the Pharaoh’s divine birth ritual known as the Divine Birth Chamber, to make a successor on earth.

A Timeline Temple of Luxor

With the beginning of the rule of the pharaohs of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, the process of development and construction of new funerary buildings began, as it beganKing Amenhotep I Building a gate south of Karnak Temple directly facing Luxor Temple, then King Thutmose I built many buildings inside the temple,Then get up King Amenhotep II By building a sacred rest house between the two temples.
The Opec Festival was celebrated as the “Pharaonic Festival”, as it was celebrated during the era of Queen Hatshepsut “the most famous queen of Egypt” and King Thutmose III in the year1436-1490 BCBirth, Where a royal procession of the god Amun, the most famous of the ancient Egyptian gods, would start in pharaonic boats from the Karnak Temple and proceed through the Avenue of Sphinxes to reach Holy Trinity Chapels At the first monument.
He did King Amenhotep III general 1360-1397 BC, He removed the foundations of the ancient temple of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose III and built a temple of his own in its place with the same architectural and engineering design used in ancient Egyptian temples. He built columns in the Holy of Holies area, then the open courtyard, then built the Hall of 14 Columns, then built the room of the House of Divine Birth, and built all parts of the funerary temples in full.
The Divine Birth Chamber was built in the Luxor Temple during the reign of King Amenhotep III and after his death it was not closed. Every king of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty would come to offer sacrifices and perform rituals and rites specific to each pharaonic king, as in the religion of the ancient Egyptians religious rituals must be performed to renew the ownership and lineage of the pharaonic king to the gods, because the god Amun renews the ownership of the throne of the gods with the beginning of each flood of the Nile River inside the Divine Birth Chamber.
King Amenhotep IV “Akhenaten” built a small temple to worship the god Aten at the first pylon in the eastern direction. After attempts by archaeologists and excavations in the eastern direction, a group of three stone blocks were discovered indicating the presence of a temple that was built in the era of King Akhenaten, but it does not exist now.
King Tutankhamun built a series of improvements and developments in the temple in 1336 BC.
King Horemheb was interested in developing and restoring funerary buildings in the temple of the god Amun.1295 – 1323 BC.
With the beginning of the reign of King Ramses II, the most famous pharaoh of the 19th Egyptian dynasty, in the year1223-1290 BCBirth, the king built the first pylon, the second pylon, the courtyard of columns in front of the hall and the hall of the 14 columns, where King Ramses II was interested in religious rituals and festivals for the ancient Egyptian gods.
The kings of the 20th Dynasty (the Ramesside era) were interested in developing the Avenue of Sphinxes and increasing the number of ram statues on both sides connecting the Karnak and Luxor temples together for the annual OPEC celebration, but with the deterioration of the country’s situation, the entry into internal conflicts and the spread of revolutions, work and construction in the temple stopped.
With the beginning of the rule King Piankhi from the 25th Egyptian Dynasty (the Egyptian-Nubian Dynasty) the buildings at Luxor Temple were developed.
In the era of the 27th Egyptian “Persian” dynasty, the beginning of the ruleKing Petubastis IIILarge parts of the temple were destroyed, but it was rebuilt and the architectural design developed with the beginning of the rule of the kings of the 28th Egyptian Dynasty.
He didKing Nectanebo I From the 30th Egyptian dynasty, a large group of ram statues were replaced with stone statues carved in the form of sphinxes on the two rows.
With the beginning of the reign of the Ptolemaic kings, the cabin of Alexander the Great was built.The most famous kings of the Roman Empire eraAt the end of the temple then he stood upAugustus Caesar”The Greek Macedonian familyBy converting the Luxor Temple into a military fortress and military residence for the Roman army.
With the rule of the Roman kings on the throne of ancient Egypt, the worship of the god Amun was stopped and replaced by the worship of the gods of the Roman emperors, and residential buildings were built for the soldiers and officers of the Roman army.
In the 14th century AD, when Egypt entered the Coptic “Christian” era, the back part of the first edifice was converted into a church and it still remains there.TIt is still present within the architectural design of the Luxor Temple.
Sheikh Abu Al-Hajja did By building a small mosque between the first edifice and the courtyard of columns.

What is special about the Temple of Luxor?

In 1987 and 1988 AD, during the restoration and dismantling of the columns, a group of stones were discovered in place of the dismantled columns dating back to the 22nd Egyptian Dynasty, indicating that the foundations of the temple were built during the reign of King Djoser (the Third Egyptian Dynasty, the Old Kingdom), but this is not scientifically proven yet.
A group of offering tables were discovered, inscribed with texts dating back to the reign of King Khaankhre Sobekhotep I from the 13th Egyptian dynasty in the Middle Kingdom.
A group of offering tables were discovered, indicating that the foundations of the funerary temple had begun to be established during the Middle Kingdom, the beginning of the reign of King Senusret III From the 12th Egyptian Dynasty, indicating the construction of funerary buildings to perform religious rituals and ceremonies during the Middle Kingdom.
A group of stone fossils were discovered in the cabin Isis The ancient monuments indicate that there was a temple of the goddess Hathor built inside the cabin.
The walls of the monuments and temples in Luxor were painted before the start of the flood season in ancient Egypt to protect the drawings and inscriptions from damage by rainwater. The priests of the Temple of Amun considered it a plague from the sky that would harm the sacred drawings.
The Battle of Kadesh was depicted on the walls of the first pylon in the temple without mentioning that King Ramses II fell from his chariot and his son left him in the battle to die without defending him and that the Egyptian army lost many soldiers and did not transfer the bodies of the soldiers to Egypt for fear of the Egyptians’ anger. The details of the battle were depicted 7 times: “twice in Luxor Temple, twice in Karnak Temple in the Great Hypostyle Hall outside, once in Abydos Temple in Sohag in the first open courtyard, once in the Ramesseum Temple in Luxor behind the Hypostyle Hall, once in Abu Simbel Temple in Aswan in the first Hypostyle Court.”
King Amenhotep IV “Akhenaten” built a special temple to worship the god Aten in the area of the first courtyard of the temple, but King Ramses II removed it completely and built his own hall of columns. A group of stones used in the construction were discovered.
The first courtyard was used as a headquarters for the Roman army and holes were dug in the columns to build a second floor as housing for soldiers and officers.

Historical facts about Egypt:

All the soldiers’ bodies had to be moved after the end of the battle, as it was in the religious beliefs and religion of the ancient Egyptians that a man buried outside the borders of Egypt would not enter heaven, believing that the land of Egypt is the holy land for the gods in heaven. “It was mentioned in the stories of Egyptian literature that there was an Egyptian officer who was killed in the land of Nubia and buried there, and after 3 years his son went to the place of his burial and brought his body to bury him in Egyptian lands.”
In the religion of the ancient Egyptians, the god Amun, the god of Luxor Temple, is considered more powerful than the god Amun, the god of Karnak Temple, as the Amun of Karnak comes to the Amun of Luxor to renew divinity, kingship and activity.
The walls of the temple contain scenes of offering sacrifices to the god Amon, godKhonsu, God Amunet, God Ra, God Montu, God Hathor, God Maat, God Min, God Nut.
Luxor Temple contains a mixture of heavenly religions, which are: Church, mosque Abu Al-Hajjaj, Delivery roomHoly, Alexander the Great’s cabin.

Temple of Luxor Address:

The West BankEastern, Luxor, Egypt.

Temple of Luxor Opening Hours:

Open daily from 06:00 AM to 08:00 PM

Temple of Luxor ticket price until November 1, 2024:

Adult = 500 Egyptian pounds.

Student or child = 250 Egyptian pounds

Researcher’s opinion: Tamer Ahmed Abdel FattahH

After the wonderful restoration process during the era of President Abdel Fattah Sisi, the president asked the minister on live air, will the modifications and luxurious floors in the Avenue of Sphinxes and Lights be removed? The minister replied at the time, no. After 7 days, I visited the temple myself as an Egyptian citizen who loves my country. I found that 90% of all the luxurious repairs, modifications, floors and lights had been removed from the temple, so I was saddened by what happened.
Luxor Temple has been ignored in all day tour programs from Hurghada and the Red Sea Hotels, although it is worth adding 30 minutes to the visit program as a private tour or group program. I think that the time to visit the temple was used to visit the bazaar shops apyrus in Luxor is for financial benefit and not for the benefit of the visitor and tourist to learn about the ancient Egyptian civilization.
You can visit all corners of the temple and take pictures within a period of no more than 30 minutes and enjoy watching the wonderful statues of King Ramses II to learn about the development of sculpture and the arts of ancient Egypt. Be sure to request them in the private Luxor tours and control your time and your trip program.

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