In the Egyptian Luxor there are two cities: "city of the dead" and "city of the living". When you move from one to another, you find yourself in the Karnak temple, which was built for almost 1600 years.
History of Karnak Temple
A trip to Egypt will be much more interesting and exciting if you know in advance a little information about the place where you are going.
For example, the Karnak temple in Luxor, which keeps many secrets, and at the same time, quite a lot is known about it. This is a huge open-air museum, a whole temple complex, in which there are more than ten temples. The huge territory of the complex is filled with buildings that were made by orders of thirty pharaohs - they all contributed to its creation, completing or rebuilding something.
The first construction began on Sanurset I back in 2000 BC. It is impossible to enumerate the names of all the pharaohs - it is only known that the main attraction of this complex was built by the pharaoh Seti I - this is the famous columned hall. All the pharaohs before him and after him tried to write their names in history and did it in accordance with the customs of that time - they built temples named after themselves.
But there were those who wanted to erase the names of their predecessors from history, and then he destroyed what they had built. The legacy of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) was especially unlucky: his temple of the god Aton was completely destroyed. Construction completely stopped under Alexander the Great.
Nevertheless, this landmark of Luxor looks amazing: after all, there are a huge number of structures and thousands of statues. What is the alley of sphinxes in front of the entrance to the main gate of the temple, which leads to the sanctuary of the goddess Mut - the wife of Amon-Ra. All the roads were decorated with such alleys here, and there are a lot of such miracles here - just the eyes run up.
There is a temple of Ramses III, an embankment, the Bubastite gate and huge columns - almost a nine-story building. There are also many statues of pharaohs who, without false modesty, deified themselves during their lifetime. Particularly impressive are the obelisks 21 and 30 meters high, the Celebration Hall of Thutmose III, the Sacred Lake. For a fee, you can visit the Open Air Museum. As a rule, the excursion includes a short walk along the Nile and meals.
The excursion usually lasts 2 hours, and during this time it is impossible to get around the whole temple, especially since time flies by here. Tours cost $ 60-100S per person, depending on the operator.
- It is better to take water and warm clothes with you, because at plus 40 in the daytime in Luxor at night it will be only plus 1 degree;
- It is also better to take hats and sunscreen;
- Be sure to ask your guide how much time is allowed to explore the temple on your own to keep up with the bus. It happens that the guide does not speak Russian well, so it is better to ask again and make sure that you understand each other;
- It is better not to take children under 10 years old there - they will not be interested;
- Make sure the excursion includes meals, as the trip is quite long;
- Please note that major operators provide buses with amenities, and street vendors for excursions are transported on regular buses, making one stop along the way.
How to get to Karnak Temple
It is located in the province of Red Sea, therefore travel is carried out by the following routes:
- From Sharm El Sheikh - by plane of local airlines. This almost triples the cost of travel;
- From Hurghada - drive only 4 hours;
- From El Gouna - about 4 hours;
- From Marsa Alam and Safaga - about 3 hours.
As a rule, they leave at night in order to start the excursion in the early morning, while it is not very hot.
With all the nuances of this trip, everyone who has visited the territory of the Karnak Temple remains deeply impressed by this grandiose monument of history.
