Statue of Ramesses the Great in the Temple Complex at Luxor in Egypt
Luxor Temple is a temple complex located in the city of Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 BC. The temple was dedicated to Amun, Mut, and Chons and was built during the New Kingdom. Access to the temple is a causeway lined by sphinxes. The 24 meter (79 ft) high First Pylon was built by Ramesses II. And is decorated with scenes of Ramesses's military triumphs at the Battle of Kadesh. This main entrance to the temple complex was originally flanked by six colossal statues of Ramesses but only two remain The gateway leads into a peristyle courtyard, also built by Ramesses II. It is atop the columns of this courtyard that the Abu Haggag mosque was built. After the courtyard comes the processional colonnade built by Amenhotep III – a corridor lined by 14 papyrus-capital columns. The decorations were put in place by Tutankhamun: but his names have been replaced with those of Horemheb. The southern side of the next courtyard is made up of a 32-column hypostyle court that leads into the inner sanctums of the temple. A cache of 26 New Kingdom statues was found under the floor in the inner sanctum area in 1989 – hidden away by pious priests, presumably, at some moment of internal upheaval or invasion. These splendid pieces are now on display at the nearby Luxor Museum.
Size: 3350px × 5044px
Location: Egypt
Photo credit: © Brenda Kean / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: amun-, avenue, building, cartouche, carvings, columns, complex, coptic, culture, egypt, egyptian, fresco, gate, god, greek, hatshepsut, hieroglyphic, hieroglyphs, historic, hypostyle, isis, lion, lotus, luxor, memphis, mut, nile, obelisk, offerings, osiris, pharaoh, priests, pylon, queen, ram-head, sandstone, sphinx, sphinxes, statue, temple, thebes, worship
