Egypt’s Karnak Temple is located in Luxor.

Topics covered include:

  • The location of the Karnak Temple
  • The history of the Karnak Temple
  • The highlights of the Karnak Temple

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Location:

The Karnak Temple near Luxor, Upper Egypt, is a must-see on every trip to Egypt.

It is typically regarded as the more repaired and original edifice than the Luxor Temple and is thus included in every itinerary.

Both temples, on the other hand, have distinct histories. This temple is located on the East Bank, across the little village of Karnak, along the Corniche.

It’s just a few minutes walks from Luxor Temple and the city of Luxor.

In addition to being a one-hour flight from Cairo, three hours by road from the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, and three hours by road from the Egyptian capital of Aswan, Luxor is readily accessible by a variety of modes of transportation, including railways connecting Cairo and Aswan.

History:

Karnak Temple serves a variety of tasks, including serving as a major intellectual center.

It is a stunning complex of temples, chapels, pylons, obelisks, and sanctuaries that spans more than 400 hectares (900 acres) – enough land to accommodate ten cathedrals in its entirety.

Every notable pharaoh added to, demolished, extended, ornamented, or rebuilt a portion of the complex as a way to display his love for the god Amun.

As a result of this expansion, Karnak grew to become one of the biggest and most impressive temple complexes in all antiquity.

Part of Karnak’s Precinct of Amun, which is the most accessible area, seems to be an infinite series of gigantic pylons (Temple doorways), colossal sculptures, and great hypostyle walls, and it is the most visited.

From the “Processional Way of ram-headed sphinxes” (Amun was often portrayed as a person with ram horns), which connects the temple of Luxor, one enters the precinct of the temple of Amun.

This leads to the First Pylon, which, at 43 meters (141 feet) high and 130 meters (426 feet) wide, is the tallest and widest structure in Egypt, even though it was never completed.

Seti II’s temple, which held the holy boats of the triad, can be seen in the courtyard, and the magnificent Temple of Ramses III (20th Dynasty) can be found in the south corner of the complex.

The Karnak Temple’s most notable features

The Great Hypostyle Hall, erected by Seti I and his son Ramses II in the 13th century BC, is located behind the Second Pylon and is described as “an incredible forest” of more than 140 towering papyrus pillars totaling 5,500sq m (59,200sq ft).

Beyond the Hypostyle Hall, there is a much bigger and more complicated portion of the temple, which was erected during the 18th Dynasty and dedicated to the god Amon (1550-1295 BC).

The obelisks of Tuthmosis II and Queen Hatshepsut, both of whom were female pharaohs, may be seen in the courtyards beyond the Third and Fourth Pylons, just beyond the Third and Fourth Pylons (1473-58 BC). On the approach to the Sacred Lake, you can see the tip of her obelisk, which has fallen to the ground.

The granite Sanctuary of Amun, erected by Philip Arrhidaeus, Alexander the Great’s half-brother, is located just beyond the Sixth Pylon.

The pillars, which are engraved with lotus and papyrus flowers, respectively representing Upper and Lower Egypt, and the granite Sixth Pylon are all worth seeing.

This was the location where Amun’s effigy was housed, and it was also the location where daily gifts were given in his honor, as shown by the pictures on the walls.

A vast Central Court and the Jubilee Temple of Tuthmosis, where the king’s life and power were symbolically regenerated during the jubilee, may be found outside the walls of the palace.

It is interesting to note that this massive temple complex was only accessible to the strong priests;

Ordinary Egyptians were barred from entering and were forced to rely on intermediate deities, whose shrines were constructed alongside the temple’s perimeter wall.

The Chapels of the Hearing Ear, a collection of chapels located at the rear of the Jubilee Temple, is one example of this kind of structure.

The temple is located between the Third and Fourth Pylons, and it extends southwards along the shore of the Sacred Lake.

Around 17,000 bronze figurines and 800 stone statues were discovered in the Cachette Court, which is located in front of the lake, in 1903. The most beautiful of them are presently on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The Karnak Sound and Light Show is a stunning re-enactment of the Temple’s history, with views over the holy lake that has been floodlit. It is free to attend.

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