LUXOR TEMPLE
NEW KINGDOM
EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY
The Luxor Temple, standing on the east bank of the Nile in the great city of Thebes, stands as a four thousand year old testament to continual worship. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Christians and Muslim have all left their mark written in stone.
From the mighty Karnak Temple, there lies a processional avenue lined with hundreds of sphinxes, connecting the great temple to Luxor. Luxor Temple was established in 3,400 B.C. by Ahmenhotep III as a site where the pharaohs received divine authority and kingship. This pharaoh's divine birth is famously engraved on the walls within this complex, reminding all that this was not just an earthly ruler, but one who received direct authority from the gods. At the entrance stands a 75-foot high obelisk, with its twin carried away to Paris. The obelisk is guarded by massive statues of Ramesses II, a ruler who had an affinity towards making himself as large as possible. Each towering column and carved relief are not merely for decoration, they deliver the same thunderous proclamation: behold your god-kings, who built these temples as monuments to their own divinity.
THE SACRED HALLS OF STONE
THE TEMPLE OF CONTINUOUS USE
Since 3,400 years ago, the people here have set this temple as sacred. From Ahmenhotep III to every pharaoh thereafter, this is where they received their divinity. Even Alexander the Great, at only 24 years old, was crowed pharaoh of Egypt here, although most likely symbolically as history doesn't show he made his way all the way down to the Nile. During the Roman period, this sacred space was converted to a Roman Temple, and later a church. Around 800 years ago, a mosque was constructed directly over the temple, still in use to this day! Luxor stands as a remarkable testament to how human are always trying to connect with the divine, making Luxor perhaps the oldest continuously used temple in the whole world - humanity's eternal search for something greater than themselves. But perhaps what we truly seek does not lie in halls made by human hands, but in the One who dwells in the human heart.
EXPLORE THE TEMPLE THROUGH PHOTOS
