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Once
the ancient city of
Thebes
and
powerhouse of Upper Egypt, Luxor has grown into a large
town, awash with hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops,
with most of its economy coming from tourism.
A highlight is the
Karnak Temple,
covering an immense 100 acres (40.5 hectares). Of the
three temple enclosures, the grandest is the
Precinct
of Amun,
the main place of worship.
The
Great
Hypostyle Hall
is
6000 sq m (64,584 sq ft) and filled with immense stone
pillars. The whole site has colossal statues, relieves,
obelisks and halls and, of course, the
Avenue
of the Sphinxes.
There are nightly
son et
lumière
shows.
Along
the riverbank,
Luxor
Temple
is
guarded by a huge statue of
Ramses
II,
and although a fraction of the area of
Karnak,
it also contains countless columns, statues and
sphinxes.
A
pleasant walk north along the corniche brings you to the
Luxor
Museum
where
a small, interesting collection of relics from the
Theban Temples and Necropolis can be viewed.
The
recently opened
Mummification Museum
has
exhibits of human, reptile and bird mummies, as well as
explanations of how they are made.
On the
West
Bank
of the
Nile is the vast
Theban
Necropolis,
containing some of the world's finest tombs.
Valley of the Kings
Valley of the
Queens;
and
Tombs of the Nobles.
Highlights include the
Tomb of Tutankhamun;
Ramses II;
and the
Tomb of Nefertari,
reputed to be the country's finest, which is newly
restored and allows only 150 visitors a day for 10
minutes.
Nearby is
Deir el-Bahri
(Northern Monastery), a
picturesque temple set amidst the amphitheatre of the
Theban
Hills.
Along the Nile, felucca
owners tout for custom, and it is possible to hire one
for a brief sunset cruise to
Banana Island,
or even to organize a trip upriver to Aswan. Hot-air
balloon trips are also available, offering the best
views of Luxor.
Around Luxor Temple, shopping is dominated by tourist
bazaars with enthusiastic salesmen
The more traditional
souk,
with household goods, spices and clothes, is on
Sharia
el-Birka.
Cafes and stalls sell hot food, and there are rooftop
terraces overlooking the river.
A livestock market is held every Tuesday morning at
El-Hebel,
a village 4km (2.4 miles) from Luxor.
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings is a desert valley located on
the west bank of Thebes, the political and religious
capital of the New Kingdom.
It was
first used as a royal necropolis by Thutmosis I,
although it was his predecessor, Amenhotep I, who was
considered as the patron-god of the valley by the actual
builders of the tombs.
The
last known king to have built a tomb in the Valley was
Ramesses XI, the last king of the New Kingdom , although
it is doubtful that he ever used that tomb.
Despite its modern name, a minority of tombs was built
for members of the royal family and their entourage.
The
valley has two main branches: the East Valley, where
most of the royal tombs are situated and the West
Valley, that only contains the tombs of Amenhotep III
and Ay, and some pits. The tombs of most of the New
Kingdom kings have been discovered over the years: some
were already open to public during the Greco-Roman era,
others have only recently been unearthed.
All of the tombs have
fallen victim to one or several visits by tomb robbers,
even the famous tomb of Tutankhamun that was discovered
almost intact in 1922 by
Howard Carter!
In an
effort to save the royal mummies from destruction, and
to salvage the remaining treasures of the royal tombs,
the priests of the end of the 20th and the 21st Dynasty
opened the tombs, collected the mummies and buried them
in two or more "caches". The first "cache" was a rock
tomb high up in the mountains of Deir el-Bahari that was
probably intended as the family tomb of the 21st Dynasty
king-priests. The second "cache" was the tomb of 18th
Dynasty king Amenhotep II. Not every royal mummy of the
New Kingdom has been found, so there is room for the
hypothesis that there may have been a third "cache"
which has not yet been identified as such or which has
not yet been discovered.
The
only royal mummies to have been found in their own tombs
were those of Amenhotep II, who was re-buried in his own
tomb by the 21st Dynasty priests, and Tutankhamun, whose
tomb lay undisturbed from the middle of the 20th Dynasty
on
Howard Carter
In an
effort to save the royal mummies from destruction, and
to salvage the remaining treasures of the royal tombs,
the priests of the end of the 20th and the 21st Dynasty
opened the tombs, collected the mummies and buried them
in two or more "caches". The first "cache" was a rock
tomb high up in the mountains of Deir el-Bahari that was
probably intended as the family tomb of the 21st Dynasty
king-priests. The second "cache" was the tomb of 18th
Dynasty king Amenhotep II. Not every royal mummy of the
New Kingdom has been found, so there is room for the
hypothesis that there may have been a third "cache"
which has not yet been identified
as
such or which has not yet been discovered. The only
royal mummies to have been found in their own tombs were
those of Amenhotep II, who was re-buried in his own tomb
by the 21st Dynasty priests, and Tutankhamun, whose tomb
lay undisturbed from the middle of the 20th Dynasty on.
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