Luxor Temple

, as seen in 1832. The one on the right is now in Paris, known as the Luxor Obelisk. The Luxor Temple was built with sandstone from the Gebel el-Silsila area, which is located in South-Western Egypt. This sandstone is referred to as Nubian sandstone. For example, to the Egyptian, a sanctuary shaped like an Anubis jackal was really Anubis. At the Luxor Temple, the two obelisks (the smaller one closer to the west is now at the Place de la Concorde in Paris) flanking the entrance were not the same height, but they created the illusion that they were. With the layout of the temple they appear to be of equal height, but using illusionism, it enhances the relative distances hence making them look the same size to the wall behind it. Symbolically, it is a visual and spatial effect to emphasize the heights and distance from the wall, enhancing the already existing pathway. ==Excavation==

River. From the Middle Ages, the population of Luxor had settled in and around the temple, at the southward end of the mount. Due to this, centuries of rubble had accumulated, to the point where there was an artificial hill some in height. The Luxor Temple had begun to be excavated by Professor Gaston Maspero after 1884, once he had been given permission to commence operations. The excavations were sporadic until 1960. Over time, accumulated rubbish of the ages had buried three quarters of the temple which contained the courts and colonnades which formed the nucleus of the Arab half of the modern village. Maspero had taken an interest earlier, and he had obtained the post of Mariette Pasha to complete the job in 1881. Not only was there rubbish, but there were also barracks, stores, houses, huts, pigeon towers, which needed to be removed in order to excavate the site. (There still exists a working mosque within the temple which was never removed.) Maspero received from the Egyptian minister of public works the authorization needed to obtain funds in order to negotiate compensation for the pieces of land covered by the houses and dependencies. ==Festivals==

The Luxor Temple was built during the New Kingdom and dedicated to the Theban Triad consisted of Amun, his consort Mut, and their son Khonsu. The focus of the annual Opet Festival, in which a cult statue of Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby Karnak Temple (ipet-sut) to stay there for a while with his consort Mut, was to promote the fertility of Amun-Re and the Pharaoh. However, other studies at the temple by the Epigraphic Survey team present a completely new interpretation of Luxor and its great annual festival (the Feast of Opet). They have concluded that Luxor is the temple dedicated to the divine Egyptian ruler or, more precisely, to the cult of the Royal Ka. Examples of the cult of the Royal Ka can be seen with the colossal seated figures of the deified Ramesses II before the Pylon and at the entrance to the Grand colonnade are clearly Ka-statues, cult statues of the king as embodiment of the royal Ka. ==Avenue of Sphinxes and Shrine stations==

The avenue (known as wi.t ntr "path of god"; ) which went in a straight line for about between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak area was lined with human-headed sphinxes; in ancient times it is probable that these replaced earlier sphinxes which may have had different heads. Along the avenue the stations were set up for ceremonies such as the Feast of Opet which held significance to the temple. ==Abu Haggag Mosque==

The active Abu Haggag Mosque () is located within the temple, standing on the ancient columns themselves. That part of the Luxor Temple was converted to a church by the Romans in 395 AD, and then to a mosque around 640 AD, which is more than 3,400 years of continuous religious worship. ==Defacement==

In 2013, a Chinese student posted a picture of engraved writing that read "Ding Jinhao was here" () in Chinese on a sculpture. This discovery spurred debate about increased tourism after the media confirmed a Chinese student caused this and other defacements. The graffiti has since been partially cleared. == Gallery ==

File:Luxor-Tempel Sanktuar Amenophis III. 01.jpg|Sanctuary of Luxor Temple Templo de Luxor, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 23.jpg|Sun court of Amenhotep III File:Luxor, Luxor Temple, sphinx alley at night, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|The Avenue of Sphinxes at night File:Templo de Luxor, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 03.jpg|Pylon and Obelisk of Ramesses II Templo de Luxor, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 22.jpg|The Grand Colonnade Templo de Luxor, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 32.jpg|Barque Shrine of Theban Triad File:Luxor Temple at night, Luxor, Egypt.jpg|First pylon at night File:Luxor temple45.JPG|A double statue of Amun and Mut with the facial features of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, respectively. ==See also==