Jon Atkinson - Wildlife And Travel Photographer

Temple of Luxor (Temple of Amenhotep III and Courtyard of Ramesses II)

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Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple
Temple of Amenhotep III's, Luxor Temple
Temple of Amenhotep III's, Luxor Temple
Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple
Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple
Luxor 1 - Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple: Work began on the temple during the reign of Amenhotep III in the 14th century BC. Horemheb and Tutankhamun added columns, statues, and friezes after Akhenaten had earlier obliterated his father's cartouches and installed a shrine to the Aten.
Luxor 2 - Temple of Amenhotep III's, Luxor Temple: Around a 100 years after the construction was finished a major expansion was completed by Ramesses II. Luxor is therefore unique among the main Egyptian temple complexes in having only two pharaohs leave their mark on its architectural structure.
Luxor 3 - Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple: The processional colonnade was built by Amenhotep III is a 100 metre long corridor lined by 14 papyrus-capital column standing 19 meters high. whilst started by Amenhotep III it was however completed after his death and was finished during the reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay and Horemheb.
Illuminated Pink granite obelisk, Luxor Temple
Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple
Illuminated Statue of Ramesses II
Luxor 4 - Located at the entrance to the temple is a 25-metre tall pink granite obelisk. It was one of a matching pair until 1835, when the other one was taken to Paris where it now stands in the centre of the Place de la Concorde.
Luxor 5 - Processional Colonnade, Luxor Temple:Illuminated rear view of the processional colonnade in the Luxor temple complex.
Luxor 6 - Illuminated Statue of Ramesses II: The entrance to the the colonnade is two statues purported to be of Ramesses II, however both of these bear the features of the young king Tutankhamen.
Sitting Ramesses II Colossus inside Luxor Temple
Statues in peristyle courtyard of Ramesses II
Luxor 7 - Statue in peristyle courtyard of Ramesses II: Illuminated statue of Ramesses II in the peristyle courtyard. Ramesses II is also known as Ramsses the Great and Ramesses II and was an Egyptian pharaoh who lived from 1314 BC to 1224 BC and reigned from 1290 BC to 1224 BC. He became pharaoh at the age of 24, and died in his 90th year. He was known to the Ancient Greeks as Sesostris
Luxor 8 - Sitting Ramesses II Colossus inside Luxor Temple: Ramesses II was the third king of the 19th dynasty, and the son of Seti I and his Queen Tuya. The most famous of Ramsses' wives was Nefertari. It is alleged that Ramesses had over 200 children by many of his wives. Ramesses led several expeditions north into the lands east of the Mediterranean as well as south into Nubia.
Luxor 9 - Statues in peristyle courtyard of Ramesses II: Within the pylon is the Peristyle Courtyard of Ramesses II, a "feast court", which is surrounded by two rows of papyrus bud columns with statues of Ramesses along with various gods in the intercolumns. It is not square, but rather in the form of a parallelogram, measuring 57 by 50.9 meters.
Relief in the Great court of Ramesses II
Pink granite obelisk, Luxor Temple
Luxor 10 - Abu Haggag Mosque over pharaonic temple: The Luxor Temple lay covered with sand and silt for centuries. The Romans built a village on the site in the 3rd century, using the temple walls as its boundaries. When the the pharaonic temple was unearthed and rediscovered in the late 19th century by archaeologist Gaston Maspero it lay under a village. The village built on the site of the Luxor Temple was moved, but the 14th century Abu al-Haggag Mosque was left intact.
Luxor 11 - Relief in the Great court of Ramesses II: The walls of the court or Ramesses II are covered with reliefs and inscriptions, representations of offerings, hymns to the gods, scenes showing conquered nations mostly dating from the reign of Ramesses II.
Luxor 12 - Pink granite obelisk, Luxor Temple: The remaining obelisk weighs 254 tons. Facing the pylon, this obelisk is on the left of the gateway. The one originally on the right, stood 22.5 meters tall and weighed 227 tons making an imposing entry to the temple. Each of the obelisks stood on a base with four baboons carved on its face.
Sun Court Amenhotep III, Luxor Temple
Temple of Amenhotep III, Luxor Temple
Luxor 13 - Abu Haggag Mosque over pharaonic temple:Abu Haggag was born in Baghdad but spent the latter half of his life in Luxor where he died in 1243. It is believed that the minaret dates back before his time to the 11th century. The mosque itself has been rebuilt many times, and was completed in the 19th century.
Luxor 14 - Sun Court Amenhotep III, Luxor Temple: Beyond the colonnade is another peristyle courtyard, which also dates back to Amenhotep's original construction. The best preserved columns are on the eastern side, where some traces of original colour can be seen. The southern side of this courtyard is made up of a 32-column hypostyle court that leads into the inner sanctums of the temple.
Luxor 15 - Temple of Amenhotep III, Luxor Temple: Temple of Amenhotep III built in the18th Dynasty, c.1370 B.C. The piles of rock are the remains of one of the walls in the temple which archeologists are currently working to reconstruct.

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