Thebes, Luxor, Karnak - the domain of Amon. Luxor Temple: description and photo Temple at Abydos - the secret of the afterlife

Good afternoon, dear readers! Today I will continue the theme of Egypt. In the last post I told you about holidays in. I am still impressed by the days I spent there. And today we will visit Luxor - ancient city in Egypt.

When I studied the history of Ancient Egypt at school, I could not even imagine that I would one day find myself on this land. Therefore, today I will tell you about Luxor, where I was lucky enough to go.

Luxor is the administrative center of the governorate of the same name, located in the middle reaches of the Nile River, a river that runs throughout Egypt. This city is home to about half a million residents, mostly Arabs. Previously, this city was called “Uaset”, and the Greeks called it “hundred-gate Thebes”. It was on this site that the capital of Ancient Egypt used to be located during the Middle and New Kingdoms.

The city was formed more than 3 thousand years ago. It is conventionally divided into 2 halves: one part is located on the right bank of the Nile, called the City of the Living. This is a residential area of ​​the city with hotels, a train station, and an international airport. And in this part of the city the famous Kornak temple is located.

The left side of the city is called the “City of the Dead”, this is the Valley of the Kings. It is located on the left bank of the Nile. There are a few settlements here, but the main part is occupied by the tombs of pharaohs and nobles. The most beautiful of them is the tomb of the first female pharaoh, Queen Hatshepsut.

The city is located. On the road from Hurghada to Luxor, driving past sandstone mountains and “frozen dunes” of sand, no vegetation is visible, not even camel thorns, the climate here is tropical desert. IN winter time During the day, temperatures rise to 40° and above, and even light frosts are possible in the evening and at night. In summer, in the shade, temperatures reach 58° and above.

Many will agree with me that it is better to see once than to hear several times. When visiting the Kornak Temple, I was first of all surprised by how colossal the creations of ancient people were. And I can’t help but feel that this is not the work of slaves, but rather the creations of a vanished civilization. Well, it is impossible to lift by hand, even with the help of several hundred (or even thousands of slaves), blocks weighing up to 80 tons!

And the ancient Egyptian writings are cartouches: how can they be made with one tool without a single chip! I think it was all done with a laser! Perhaps I'm wrong. But this opinion exists among many tourists.

Ancient city in photographs

So, let's take a tour of Luxor with me. We left the hotel early, at 5 o'clock in the morning. It was still dark. We drove 4 hours to Luxor. On the way we met the sunrise.

This is a sunrise in the desert.

The road passed between sandstone mountains. A military post is visible.

Photo from the bus. Beds of wheat alternate with beds of drugs. “You have to survive somehow,” this is how the guide explained it.

Canals that branch off from the Nile. Only along the Nile and these canals are human settlements located. Only small tribes of Bedouins live in the desert.

This is a model of the Kornak Temple. This is how it was several thousand years ago. Now he is like this.

Alley of sheep at the entrance to the temple. They are located on both sides.

This is a former hall of columns. The total number of columns is 136. It is believed that this is how many children Pharaoh Ramses II had.

And this is proof that I was here.

And this is the Nile River, the waterway of Egypt. We took a boat ride along the Nile.

We are approaching the City of the Dead. In the distance is the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut.

As we approach on the right, we see “holes” in the mountain. They are looking for new tombs. It is said that 40% of the tombs have not yet been found. You can become a millionaire in a few days if you find new tombs. The government rewards generously those who find the entrance to the “new” tomb. But finding them is too difficult and complicated a task. After all, no one knows where the entrance to the tombs is. Time and earthquakes have made this task difficult.

Staircase to the Temple of Hatshepsut. Climbing it, especially in 40-degree heat, is not at all easy.

Look: what rocks hang over the temple! It's scary how you look at them.

Over the millennia, the colors on the walls have not faded at all; they remain just as bright.

And this is the blue sky and golden stars.

Look at the mountains again, how tall they are! It's like they're hanging over a temple.

These are another ruins - statues of the City of the Dead.

And it's me again. Photo for memory.

In the city of the dead we descended into 4 tombs. In some of them, only empty sarcophagi remained, as in the tomb of the son of Ramses II. All mummies are in the Cairo Museum. It’s a pity that video and photography are prohibited when entering the tombs. Failure to comply with these rules will result in a fine of $200. That's why I can't please you with any pictures.

But there is something to see there. When a pharaoh ascends the throne, his architects immediately begin building his tomb. And the longer the pharaoh is in power, the larger and more beautiful his tomb is. The largest tomb is that of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled the country for 60 years.

On the walls at the entrance to the tombs and directly in the tomb itself, the “book of life” of the owner of the tomb is written. To describe his entire life, all the walls of the tomb are covered with writing from top to bottom.

Well, our excursion to Luxor, the ancient city, has ended. If you liked this excursion, then as a sign of gratitude, please click on the social buttons. networks. Let your friends take this excursion too.

And today on our way is the ancient city of Luxor.

Luxor - the city of the pharaohs

It is probably difficult to find a person who has not heard anything at all about this city, in which so many ancient monuments are concentrated. This is the largest open-air museum.

Luxor, on the site of which the former capital of Ancient Egypt, Thebes, destroyed more than 2,500 years ago once existed, is located 500 kilometers from Cairo.

From Hurghada, El Gouna and Makadi you can get to Luxor by bus. Travel time is approximately four to five hours. From Cairo it takes 11 hours by bus, but you can get there by plane or train. From Sharm el-Sheikh - only by plane (by bus the journey will take 15 hours).

During the prosperity of the ancient city of Thebes, all the most valuable things from all over Egypt were brought here. And today, almost every building in Luxor is either a museum, a temple, or a palace.

Surely you have heard that in Egypt there is "city of the dead" . So here it is we're talking about specifically about Luxor. In one part of it, on the eastern bank of the Nile, the current inhabitants of the city live (the “city of the living”), and in the second half there are the tombs of the pharaohs and sacred temples. This is the so-called “city of the dead”, where the kings of Ancient Egypt found their final refuge from the moment when Egyptian pharaohs were no longer buried in pyramids. And this was during the time of Thutmose the First (1504-1492 BC).

A special place was chosen for their burial - a valley in Thebes at the foot of the mountains on the western bank of the Nile, called Valley of the Kings . They were buried in the Valley of the Kings for five centuries, and several necropolises were formed here (this is a huge cemetery that consists of many tombs, crypts and underground galleries).

The oldest and largest Theban necropolis is considered Intef necropolis . The tombs of this necropolis are arranged either in the form of elongated graves located on the plain, or tombs slightly dug into the ground. A lot of steles were found here, and among them is the famous stele depicting a pharaoh with five hunting dogs.

IN Al-Khokha necropolis buried the priests and rulers of Egypt. The tombs were carved directly into the rocks and went deep, first along an inclined corridor, and then sharply down to a depth of 100 meters. It all ended in several rooms, the ceilings and walls of which were covered with drawings telling about the lives of those buried in them.

Here are the tombs of the priest Puimr, the sculptor of the times of Amenhotep III - Ipuki, the royal secretary of Userkhet.

Necropolis of Mentuhotep II and II I– as a result of long construction, a beautiful complex was created, consisting of a tomb, a mortuary temple and other structures.

Al-Assasif Necropolis famous for the fact that on its territory there are more than 500 burial places of Egyptian pharaohs and nobles, funeral temples of the pharaohs and Queen Hatshepsut, the remains of a funeral temple in honor of the god Amun-Ra in the form of two statues of Amenhotep (Colossi of Memnon), the temple of Medinet Abu.

Tutankhamun's tomb - the most famous find in the Valley of the Kings. The special value of the tomb of the youngest pharaoh of Egypt (died at the age of 19) is that it was not plundered.

This burial preserved the mummy of the pharaoh, several sarcophagi with magnificent treasures, funeral accessories and utensils.

Also in the Valley of the Kings is tomb of pharaoh Merneptah , plundered many millennia ago, but, nevertheless, the sarcophagi of which carry a lot of information about those times. And its study continues to this day.

Valley of the Queens (called in ancient times “the valley of the children of Pharaoh”) is located next to the Valley of the Kings.

In ancient times, the wives of pharaohs and their children, as well as nobles and priests, were buried in this Valley. Archaeologists have discovered about seventy rock-cut tombs in these places.

Better preserved than others tomb of the mysterious queen of Egypt Nefertari , wife of Ramses the Great. The tomb was opened in 1904, but it was only in 1995 that visitors began to be allowed in.

The preservation of the interior decoration, well-preserved polychrome fresco painting, and rock paintings in the tomb are not only a reason to admire the skill of ancient masters, but also a source of knowledge about the life of those distant times.

Medinet Habu Temple

One of the largest buildings of Ancient Egypt in the “city of the dead”, which has survived to this day. The colorful frescoes on the walls of the temple tell about the time, life and victories of Ramses III, the great pharaoh of Egypt.

A monumental gate leads into the temple, surrounded by powerful fortress walls, which in itself deserves careful consideration.

Built during the reign of Ramses, the temple subsequently served as a place of life and burial for several subsequent generations of pharaohs.

The temple is accessible to visitors all year round (but restoration work is constantly being carried out there; before your trip you need to check whether it is accessible for visiting).

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

This mortuary temple was built over 9 years in the second millennium BC near the tomb of Mentuhotep. Queen Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh, called the temple Djeser Djeseru (“most sacred of the sacred”).

The temple has not yet been completely restored, but even that part of the architectural complex that is open to visitors is amazing.

The temple was carved into the limestone mountains. A wide road with ramps leads to the center of the sanctuary. At the entrance to the temple there are columns sculptured in the form of huge figures of people. The walls of the temple are decorated with bas-reliefs, drawings and ancient Egyptian writings, which tell about many events from the life and reign of the majestic Queen Hatshepsut.

Colossi of Memnon - giant statues of the gods of Egypt

In the Theban necropolis you can see what remains of the once monumental alley that led to the funeral temple of Amenhotep III (not preserved). Today there are two giant statues depicting the pharaoh, which are known as the “Colossi of Memnon”. Their height is 20 meters.

In the second half of Luxor - the “city of the living” - there are no less famous than the tombs of the pharaohs, the Karnak and Luxor temples, which were once united into one architectural complex by the Alley of the Sphinxes.

Karnak Temple

The largest temple complex in Luxor. There are many ancient buildings on its large territory. But its main attraction is the Temple of Amun, which occupies its central part, and the famous Hall of Columns of Pharaoh Seti I with majestic columns (134 sixteen-meter columns), decorated with colored bas-reliefs.

A little further from the temple is the Sacred Lake, on the shore of which is the largest statue in the world of the most revered insect in Egypt - the scarab beetle. The popularity of this beetle is associated with the mythology of Ancient Egypt and the belief in the afterlife (the scarab beetle is a symbol of rebirth after death).

According to legend, a wish made near this statue in compliance with the obligatory ritual will certainly come true. And those who believe in magical power They try to buy figurines of this insect.

Luxor Temple

It was erected during the time of Ramses II (13th century BC) and still amazes with its proportionality, harmony, perfection of forms, original frescoes, reliefs and ancient writings.

The entrance pylon was once decorated with six monumental statues. Today you can see only three huge statues (up to 20 meters high): Pharaoh Ramses II, Nefertari (his wife) and one of two granite obelisks.

Once in Luxor, you can’t help but visit the ancient city of Dendera, which is located 60 kilometers from the city (230 kilometers from Hurghada).

The main attraction of these places is the Temple of the goddess Hathor in Dendera

The oldest temple, dedicated to the goddess of love and fertility, the guardian of the hearth, Hathor, especially revered by women, was built in the Greco-Roman period and is one of the last temples in Egypt.

The temple was discovered only in the mid-19th century under a thick layer of sand. This probably explains its good preservation.

It is a square-shaped sandstone structure with thick walls and a portico with columns. The walls of the temple, both internal and external, are decorated with relief drawings with fragments of color images Egyptian gods, pharaohs, Roman emperors, astronomical scenes, unique zodiac and solar disk.

Behind the Temple of Hathor there is a very small Temple of Isis and the Sacred Lake, which, according to legend, was visited by Queen Cleopatra.

Temple at Abydos - the secret of the afterlife

The temple is located 98 kilometers north of Dendera and 170 kilometers from Luxor. The temple was considered a real gateway to the afterlife and entry here was closed to mere mortals for millennia.

The temples of Abydos are sacred places for the Egyptians and the cult center of Osiris (the god of the underworld). The mortuary temple of Seti (13th century BC) is its main attraction.

Temple of Horus in Edfu

Edfu is a city located 100 kilometers from Luxor on the west bank of the Nile.

The temple was built in honor of the god Horus. The grandiose structure (height - 36 meters, width - 79 meters, length - 137 meters) is second in size only to the Karnak Temple and the Medinet Habu Temple. Well preserved, a lot of drawings, images, ancient writing.

Having finished visiting the wonderful ancient monuments in this part of Egypt, next time we will go to the sophisticated oriental mosques and churches.

Until then...bye, bye

“Thebes: this name was the greatest in my thoughts,” wrote Champollion, having discovered the site of the most ambitious excavations in Upper Egypt, “but it has become colossal since I walked the roads of the old capital through the most ancient of all cities in the world.”

Thebes was the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian city of Waset. This name comes from the word was, which means "mighty." This is the name of both the ancient city, the monuments of which are located on the eastern, right bank of the Nile, and its necropolises, located on the western bank.

On the right bank of the Nile rise the temples of Karnak and Luxor. Luxor is also modern city 726 km south of Cairo.

Opposite them, on the left (western) bank, there are many attractions: the Valley of the Kings, Queens and Nobles, Deir el-Bahri, Ramesseum, Medinet Habu and many other remarkable ruins.

According to myth, it was in Thebes on the first morning of the world that the “primordial hill” arose on which life began.

In the Old Kingdom, Thebes was a small settlement in a fairly large province.

At the end of the First Intermediate Period, the Theban nomarch Intef united under his rule the seven southern nomes of Upper Egypt, which made up the province of the "Gate of the South", and fortified himself in this territory. His son Mentuhotep crowned himself with the royal title. The cult of Amon began to flourish in the city. His name was first mentioned in Thebes during the First Intermediate Period, and his first temple dates back to the same era. The ruins of the temple have not been found, but there are mentions of it in the inscriptions. During the XII Dynasty, the cult of Amon became dominant in the Theban region. During the early Middle Kingdom, Thebes became the capital of a unified country, and at the beginning of the second millennium BC, Amenemhet I erected the first significant structures here.

On the eastern bank of the Nile there was a city of the living - a cult and administrative center. On the western bank there was a city of the dead, where the rulers of the 9th and 10th dynasties, bearing the name Intef, built their necropolis at the foot of the Dra Abu el-Negga hill.

The fame and wealth of Thebes became known throughout Egypt during the New Kingdom. The last pharaoh of the 17th dynasty, Kamose, managed to drive out the Hyksos invaders. This feat was attributed to the intercession of the god Amun, whose temple became the heart of Egypt. The city of the living and the city of the dead become a grandiose metropolis, which the rulers of subsequent eras continued to decorate. Many beautiful buildings appeared on the eastern shore. There were royal palaces and two-story residences of nobles here. All these mud brick buildings were surrounded by gardens. The capital's suburbs stretched far beyond the borders of modern Luxor and Karnak, but now nothing remained of its former splendor except ruins.

Since the XXI dynasty, the star of Thebes has gradually set. Main role The Delta begins to play a role in the economic and commercial life of the country. Thebes closed in on itself, continuing to preserve traditions and remaining far from the changes that worried Northern Egypt.

In the 7th century BC e. The Assyrians plundered the temples of Thebes and evicted some of the inhabitants from the city. The city became a museum that Egyptians visited, longing for a glorious past. In 27 BC. e. A new disaster struck the city - an earthquake. Christians and Arabs successively destroyed local monuments. Over time, the city fell into such desolation that people forgot where ancient Thebes was!

They were discovered again only in 1718, and since then interest in them has not waned. We can say that Thebes has been resurrected. Construction is underway here again, architects and restorers are working, great buildings are being brought back to life.

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In the beginning, the patron of Thebes was Motu, a falcon-headed god who endowed the pharaoh with strength and power. But during its heyday, Amun reigned in Thebes.

Amon means "The Hidden One". He had the appearance of a man, crowned with a crown with two high feathers. Sometimes he is depicted with blue skin. This god had two sacred animals: a ram and a Nile goose, which let out the first cry at the beginning of the creation of the world and laid an egg from which all things hatched.

The first, born before all, was Amon, who had neither father nor mother. He is the only one who is hidden from the eyes of gods and people. Creator of the world, he raised the sky to the height of his hands, and the earth was created the width of his step.

In addition to Amon, the god of sages and priests, there was Amon, who listened to the poor and sick. In later times, several small chapels were built where “Amon, the fulfiller of petitions,” was worshiped.

On the walls of temples there are often inscriptions “Amon-Ra, king of all gods.” Amon, the patron of Thebes, Heliopolis of the South, and Ra, the patron of Heliopolis, the sacred city of the North, are inseparable. Amon is a mystery by nature, Ra is a divine light that creates and reveals. Together they form divine unity, the source of all things.

Egypt attracts thousands of travelers with its tropical climate, developed tourist infrastructure and many attractions.

The country has perfectly preserved antiques from various eras and civilizations: ancient Egyptian, Arab, Christian. Necropolises, burial places of pharaohs, tombs that stood for many thousands of years became the subjects of a separate science - Egyptology. Among the many ancient cities that you can visit upon arrival in this country, Luxor can be considered a treasure trove of attractions.

Luxor is a city of monuments.

Due to the fact that many ancient temples, mosques and tombs have been preserved on the territory of the beautiful city, Luxor is called the city of the dead and the living. Its territory is divided by the majestic Nile into two halves, on which modern residential areas and thousand-year-old historical monuments coexist.

Luxor is a very ancient city, founded on the ruins of the former capital of Egypt one and a half thousand years BC, and it is rightfully considered one of the most visited places by antiquity lovers.

Time is merciless to historical monuments, and this can also be said about the main attraction of the city - the Luxor Temple. This structure was completely covered with sand for many years. The first excavations of the temple date back to the 19th century. Over the past years, the monument has literally risen from the sand.

The temple is dedicated to the god Amun-Ra, his wife Mut and son Khonsu. The architecture of the building is replete with many columns, frescoes, and statues depicting gods. Since the temple was built over several centuries, each of the rulers of Egypt of the 19th dynasty contributed to the architecture of the building. During the reign of Tutankhamun, 74 tall and massive columns were erected, between which huge statues of the pharaohs were placed. Ramses the Great glorified his military exploits with the help of frescoes on the inside of the northern pylon.

The majestic open-air temple is adjoined on the northern side by the alley of sphinxes. The temple complex itself was originally surrounded by 6 huge statues of Pharaoh Ramses, but today only 2 have survived.

Karnak temple complex

Built 2000 BC, the Karnak Temple is literally replete with various architectural monuments, compositions, and ancient artifacts. Excavations of this structure, which occupies an area of ​​more than 40 hectares, began in the 19th century and continue to this day. The complex itself is divided into three zones by a large block wall. The temple is dedicated to the gods Amon, his wife Mut, and the god of war Mont. Each of the 40 pharaohs who participated in the construction of the complex contributed to the architecture of the building, adding obelisks, pylons, alleys, columns, and statues to the temple area.

The heart of the complex is considered to be the hypostyle hall, on the territory of which there are 34 pylons more than 20 meters high. Each pylon is a kind of “walk of fame” of the pharaohs, who erected these buildings in honor of themselves and their family. On the surface of the colossal pillars you can see statues of pharaohs Ramses, Nectaneb, Horemheb and other rulers. Their family members are also depicted on the columns.

The Karnak Temple is a large complex that combines various ancient Egyptian eras. It is worth noting that one day is not enough to visit all the monuments. It will take several excursions to admire the ancient beauties and ancient artifacts.

The mysterious burial place of many rulers of ancient Thebes is surrounded by secrets and legends. The Valley of the Kings is a huge necropolis, which is located in limestone deposits near modern Luxor. The bowl-shaped valley is surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs. To get to the valley, you need to go through a rather narrow winding passage between high limestone deposits. In ancient times, the passage to the tombs was guarded by guards. Also, guard houses were located along the entire perimeter of the valley.

The first excavations of burials began 200 years ago. The western part of the necropolis is still closed to visitors; excavations are being carried out on the recently discovered graves of Amenhotep III and other pharaohs. In a western direction, you can only visit the tomb of Tutankhamun’s successor, the ruler of Au. The main excursions take place in the Eastern part of the necropolis.

It is worth knowing that photographing inside the tombs is prohibited; security has the right to confiscate cameras without returning them.

One and a half kilometers from the Valley of the Kings is the burial place of the wives and children of the rulers of ancient Thebes of the 19th and 20th dynasties. It is in this place that the notorious Queen Nefertiti is buried. The tomb is located underground, in a limestone grotto. The discovered grave took a long time to be restored, since the salt contained in the underground waters significantly damaged the drawings on the walls.

In addition to the queen’s grave, there are more than 70 burials in the grotto. Each grave consists of a narrow corridor, side chambers for things and a burial compartment. The walls of the cells are decorated with colorful paintings depicting gods, goddesses and religious scenes. When visiting the underground grotto, you need special clothing: shoes with lasts and face masks.

Video – Valley of the Queens

Museum of Ancient Egyptian Art

This museum contains many works of art by ancient masters from the pre-dynastic period to the Islamic era. The collection of antiquities is located in a modern building with 2 floors. In addition to sculptures depicting pharaohs and queens made of stone, limestone and wood, in the collection you can admire jewelry, furniture, papyri and other objects for burial or rituals. The museum also has ancient sarcophagi with mummies buried in them.

On the second floor of the museum building there is an entire reconstructed sandstone wall, transported from the temple of Amenhotep IV. Nearby are statues that were found underground in the Luxor Temple. The statues are so perfectly preserved that it seems that they were only recently created by the skilled hands of a stone carver. In one of the halls there is an ancient chariot belonging to Tutankhamun. You can also see hunting and ritual weapons of that time.

This beautiful building, located near Luxor, in Dendera, is dedicated to the goddess Khothor, who is the patroness of motherhood and love. Today it is the best preserved ancient monument, founded in the 1st century BC. The construction of the temple was patronized by Queen Cleopatra II. Subsequently, the temple was decorated and completed by other rulers of ancient Thebes.

The building is divided into several halls, divided into sections. The first hall is decorated with massive and tall columns on which the faces of the goddess are carved. The walls between the columns are decorated with scenes of sacrifice rituals in honor of Khothor, painted and carved in stone. Particular attention is drawn to the ceiling of the large hall, divided into 7 fragments. Only 3 astronomical sections are well preserved.

The next hall of the temple is decorated with columns standing on granite pedestals. In the walls of the room there are niches in which offerings and valuable items were kept. The largest chapel, located in the central hall, contains 2 altars. One was used for rituals, the second for sacrifices. Also on the territory of the temple there are several more chapels dedicated to other gods.

Video - Temple of Hathor

To learn more about how the ancient Egyptians prepared dead people for burial, it is worth visiting the mummification museum. In this place you can learn in detail about all the processes that were followed by the ancient Egyptians when mummifying people or animals.

In the museum you can see mummies, examine tools and learn the compositions for embalming and processing during mummification. In the large halls there are departments in which coffins and sarcophagi for storing mummies are located.

The central exhibit of the museum is the well-preserved mummy of Masahart, who was the son of King Panediam. His burial was discovered in Dier el-Bahri, from where the coffin with his body was delivered after a thorough examination.

In addition to human bodies, in the museum you can see a rich collection of various mummified animals, perfectly preserved to this day. Fish, reptiles, pharaohs' pets, monkeys - each exhibit dates back several thousand years.

Hatshepsut is the only female pharaoh who left a significant mark on the history of ancient Egypt. The ruler was equated with the gods and a magnificent three-tier temple was built in her honor, which is well preserved to this day.

The structure consists of three terraces, on which gardens of myrrh trees were laid out, sculptures and obelisks were installed. The terraces are divided by a wide ramp on which steps are carved. The structure of the temple itself is closely adjacent to high mountains.

The terraces are decorated with columns on which pilasters with the image of Hatshepsut were carved. There are also sphinxes and statues on the terraces. Some stone sculptures have been transported from the temple to various museums around the world.

On the second terrace there are two hypostyle halls with 24 huge columns, built in honor of Anubis and Hathor. From these halls, deeper into the mountain, rooms were carved in which offerings to the gods were kept. The walls between the halls are decorated with paintings depicting the ruler.

The third terrace is dedicated to the god Ra.

Sculptures

The Colossi of Memnon are two large sculptures that have been in the same place for more than 3,000 years - in the necropolis of Thebes, across the Nile River from modern Luxor.

The two sculptures, located 22 meters from each other, depict Pharaoh Amenhotep III. The ruler sits on the throne, his face facing the sunrise. On each throne are carved figures of the pharaoh's mother and wife. The statues are made of heavy sandstone blocks, transported from the territory in which modern Cairo is located. The weight of one statue exceeds 680 tons, the height is more than 18 meters. It is believed that one statue, which has significant damage, was destroyed by an earthquake.

Mysterious legends are associated with these statues, telling that the statues sang at sunrise when the sun's rays hit them. After one of the statues was restored after being damaged in 130, the singing stopped.

Video - Colossi of Memnon

Table. Luxor Egypt attractions

Video - Secrets of Egypt. Luxor. Attractions

Sanctuaries of Ancient Thebes (Luxor and Karnak)

“The Hundred Gate Thebes,” as this city was called in ancient times, began to play a leading role in Ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom period (XVI-XI centuries BC), when the capital moved south to the middle course of the Nile. The expulsion of foreign tribes, victorious wars in Syria and Nubia turned Egypt into one of the strongest powers in the world, and Thebes into the richest city, glorified by Homer. It was here, on the banks of the Nile, that the best works of art of that time and the most famous architectural monuments were born. The best architects and sculptors of the country worked in Thebes. Their labor and royal will created huge temple complexes, including the monumental masterpieces of Luxor and Karnak. They still amaze with the grandeur of their scale, scope, complexity and at the same time clarity of multifaceted compositions.

The famous architect of those years, Ineni, wrote: “I was looking for something that was useful... These were works the likes of which had not been carried out since the time of our ancestors. What I was destined to create was great!”

“Greatness” is perhaps the most accurate word for the ancient Theban sanctuaries. They could not have been different, given the beliefs of the Egyptians and the sacred nature of royal power. To begin with, the temple was considered the place of real residence of God. Here they made sacrifices to the gods, here the priests asked the gods to protect the country and people. The temple also had a purely symbolic purpose, being a reduced model of the Universe. Its ceiling symbolized the vault of heaven; it was decorated with images of stars and constellations, the boat of the Sun, around which were depicted “uraei” (solar serpents, or huge celestial vultures). At the bottom of the wall near the floor of the temple, plants were painted, primarily a lotus; it rose above the primeval swamp and symbolized the fertility of the earth. Between “heaven” and “earth” the Egyptians covered the walls with bas-relief paintings. They depicted scenes of ritual ceremonies and ceremonies. The powerful columns supporting the vault of the temple symbolized the four pillars on which the sky rests. The shape of these supports resembled plant stems: papyrus meant daily renewal, lotus - a world born from water, as the archetype of all living and inanimate things. This cosmic symbolism became widespread in the late era.

Each pharaoh considered it his duty not only to build new temples, but also to restore and expand old ones. These works began in the interior of the building and progressed from the inside to the outside. A new, higher colonnade was erected in front of the old facade, a large pylon was built, etc. Such construction, due to the linear architectural layout of the temple, did not change the essence of its compositional structure.

It is the Luxor Temple that is most characteristic in the sense that almost a dozen pharaohs who ruled in different times, namely, starting from the kings of the XII and the XIX dynasty, and in time this is from 2000 to 1200 BC. e. Needless to say: building and rebuilding one sanctuary for 800 years is a fact that in itself is worthy of an architectural record.

The temple was originally dedicated to the most important god of the Egyptians, Amon, the patron saint of Thebes, who personified the Sun. Previously, on this site there was a cult building of Amun, founded by the kings of the XII dynasty, the stones of which were used to build a more impressive structure. The work of his distant ancestors was continued by Thutmose III, who added a prayer house to the building, which consisted of three rooms dedicated to the boats of Amon, his wife Mut and son Khonsu, who, according to legend, came from Karnak to Luxor for the festivities. Much later, both Tutankhamun and Ramses II contributed to the construction of the temple, but Pharaoh Amenhotep III did the most for the family sanctuary. He built a temple for the holidays a little south of the old prayer house of Thutmose and a little lower to the Nile, but also parallel to its flow. According to his plan, the architects added to the sanctuary a magnificent forecourt with colonnades, which still amaze tourists who come to Luxor.

The temple at Luxor and the large sanctuary complex at Karnak were connected by a road guarded by sphinxes. On both sides of the gate stood throne statues of the pharaoh made of black granite. In total, in front of the facade of the temple there were two obelisks and six huge statues of the pharaoh. One obelisk, two throne statues and one standing statue have survived. By the way, the preserved obelisk now adorns the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Behind the façade pylon is a courtyard surrounded by two rows of columns. The walls were covered with bas-reliefs on religious themes, of which only one has reached us, depicting a religious procession. In the southern part of the courtyard, the entrance leads to the buildings of Amenhotep III, on both sides of which there are throne statues of the pharaoh and his royal wife. After passing through the passage, visitors find themselves in a 52-meter column gallery, consisting of seven pairs of columns, shaped like bunches of papyrus. The height of the columns is 16 meters. This stone alley leads to the next courtyard, where there are statues of Ramses II and his wife. From here, through the vestibule leading to the hall for the sacred boat to the sanctuary, which has four pillars, one can enter the second courtyard built by Amenhotep. It is also surrounded by a double row of columns in the shape of papyrus stems with a closed flower bud. Here once stood a statue of the god Amun, which was taken out in a sacred boat in the days religious holidays. Among the auxiliary premises, which included the Mut and Khonsu chapels, the Birth House of Amenhotep III is of greatest interest. The wall bas-reliefs of this room depict the birth of the pharaoh - starting from the moment of conception (the role of the father is played, naturally, by the god Amon), the pregnancy of the queen, the development of the child and the formation of his Ka right up to the very moment of birth. The gods themselves helped the pharaoh's mother during childbirth. The last picture in this series is the scene of the pharaoh’s accession to the throne.

Beginning with the 19th dynasty of the pharaohs, the temple complex at Karnak, built in the northern part of Thebes on the eastern bank of the Nile, began to play a crucial role. It was built over almost two thousand years and acquired its characteristic appearance during the New Kingdom, which began approximately 1500 BC. e., during the reign of the kings of the XVIII dynasty. In addition to the large temple named after the same god Amun, many smaller prayer houses were built. At the southern wall of the sanctuary there was an artificial lake, which played an important role in religious rituals.

A little further south was the area of ​​the sanctuary of the goddess Mut, decorated with hundreds of throne sculptures made of diorite and granite, and surrounded by a high wall. However, it was Thutmose III who did most of the building at Karnak. In the Temple of Amun, he began by demolishing the hall for the divine boat built by Queen Hatshepsut and building in its place another one, made of pink granite, with a small pylon at the entrance. Between the entrance and the hall for the boat there was a small vestibule, formed by two granite supports. These monoliths symbolized Lower and Upper Egypt and were therefore decorated with images of lotus and papyrus, emblems of the two parts of the country. They still stand today.

But the largest structure built by the pharaoh is the architectural complex in the eastern part of the temple ensemble. It consists of a large hall for celebrations and many auxiliary rooms around it. The hall is divided into five aisles-naves; it is located perpendicular to the axis of the temple layout. This is the first example in history of a cathedral-type layout: the roof of the main nave rests on elevated supports and therefore rises above the ceiling of other naves - ships. The main nave has windows through which light enters. The high ceiling was painted blue and decorated with gold stars. Other, narrower naves were separated from each other by quadrangular pillars covered with bas-reliefs. The rooms and chapels surrounding the hall were also decorated with surprisingly thin wall reliefs.

The large temple of Amon acquired its modern appearance in a later era. Pharaoh Taharqa, a Nubian by origin, built a double row of columns in front of the pylon of the main entrance, following the example of the temple in Luxor. It is not known exactly when the construction of pylon I began, it is only known that it ended already under the Ptolemies, when a huge courtyard was formed in front of pylon II. The final composition of the Temple of Amun repeated the traditional layout of Egyptian temple buildings.

In general, the complex of sanctuaries in Luxor and Karnak today gives an idea of ​​the importance the Egyptians attached to the religious understanding of their lives and objects of worship. And although only legends remain of these beliefs, and the host of Egyptian gods have long turned into mythological images, they can tell us no less about the fate of the ancient people than the most objective historical chronicles.