The ancient Egyptian name for Luxor is Vazet. With countless amazing archaeological finds, Luxor has something to please the tourist. This relatively small city, 650 kilometers south of Cairo, still retains the spirit of Egyptian grandeur.
It was in these places in the distant past that one of the capitals of the ancient kingdom was located, which the Egyptians themselves called Wasset, and their neighbors, the Greeks, Thebes. And the ancient inhabitants of the city themselves called the capital simply Niut, which from Egyptian means "City".
Luxor is now the most popular Egyptian tourist destination. And there are a lot of reasons for that. Where else is there a place in which the greatness of the ancient Egyptian state is so strongly felt. It is here that you can see the alleys of the sphinxes, the foundations of ancient palaces and temples.
The most famous attraction in Luxor is a wonderful temple in honor of the supreme Egyptian deity - Amun-Ra. The temple was mostly built during the reign of Amenhotep III. Today, one of the granite obelisks that previously stood in front of the temple adorns the Place de la Concorde in Paris. At the entrance to the temple there are two fifteen-meter colossus, which represent the pharaoh, the son of Amun, sitting on the throne. In addition to the huge sculptures of the great Pharaoh Ramses II, there is also a small snow-white mosque. Also of interest is the Luxor City Museum. It exhibits recently discovered finds that have been mined in an ongoing excavation in the vicinity of Thebes. The most notable is the wall of the temple, recently reconstructed. The temple itself was built by Akhenaten.
About 3 kilometers northeast of Luxor, there is an amazingly beautiful monumental ensemble in Karnak. This is a unique largest temple building from the time of the pharaohs.
In the evenings, Karnak hosts a light show to bring ancient buildings to life. It helps tourists get a feel for the ancient wisdom and history of this place. Not far from Karnak, on the very edge of the desert and rugged mountains, there is a huge necropolis, which the locals call the Valley of the Kings. 63 rulers are buried in it. And even after the graves were almost completely looted by the efforts of black diggers for a huge number of years, the Valley of the Kings was able to bring many surprises to modern archaeologists and Egyptologists, for example, an absolutely untouched tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered in the valley.
