The Luxor Las Vegas takes it’s name from Luxor Egypt, a city across the Nile River from both the Valley of Kings and the Valley of Queens. Luxor is the actually the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. The Karnak Temple Complex, or just Karnak, has been used as a place of worship for millennia and contains a large number of temples, statues, and their ruins to every Egyptian God and many of the Pharos who ruled the country. As such it’s been called “world’s greatest open air museum” due to the sheer number of history and often ancient buildings in the area.
Modern (2013) Luxor is a fairly up to date city. But besides the ruins, one thing has not changed since this vintage photo from the 1950’s, the train is still the best way to get to the city for tourists.
The Festival Hall in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, “owned” by Tuthmosis III who dedicated the temple to the God Amun.
The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsu marks a change in Egyptian architectural styles. More recently, in 1997, it was the site of the massacre of 62 people by Islamic extremists.
There are over 30 identified types of pillars in Egyptian temples. The Lotus Pillars at Karnak near Luxor Egypt are one of the most famous.
The “type” of pillar is defined by the shape at the top of the column. The papyrus pillar is shaped like the papyrus stem and bud.
“Behind” the Lotus pillars at Karnak is a mosque. Based on other pictures I’ve found it looks like this is an absolutely huge building as most pictures are closeups, at an angle to the building. That puts the true size of these pillars into perspective.
This picture is merely labeled “Luxor,” but it shows a small part of the Karnak Temple Complex, giving one an idea of how absolutely huge the are really is. And how many buildings and temples there are here.
There are apparently several statues of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II in the complex. This is one of the smaller, but more complete versions.
The Temple of Kgonsu is unique in that the top of the stones are inscribed with ancient graffiti. Some put there by contemporary travelers, but some has been identified as being written by priests of the temple.
Lastly, I have a picture labeled “Guess Who?” Was this a picture of our history or art teacher/photographer walking through the Karnak Temple Complex?
Please feel free to correct anything that is wrong in this post. I have never traveled to this area so everything here is based off research found on the Internet. All factual errors are mine!
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