West
Bank of Luxor
The west bank of Luxor was the necropolis of ancient Thebes,
where kings, queens, princes, princesses, nobles, priests
and even workers were buried.
Ramesseum
The remains of the temple are very impressive in their
dimension. This mortuary temple was constructed by Ramses
II. The declaration of the temple again shows the exploits
of the pharaoh who stopped the Hettites advance.
Hatshepsut-Temple
(Deir-el-Bahari)
Senmut, architect of Queen Hatshepsut, constructed
a funerary temple, directly next to the 500 years older
Temple of Montuhotep.
The great insight of her architect was the way in which
he exploited the rocks, to build a temple of three terraces.
The temple pointing out to the east, consists of three
ramps leading to the sanctuary. The beautiful reliefs
depict expeditions into the mysterious territory of "Punt"
in Africa and the birth scenes in the second terrace.
The
Colossi of Memnon
The only remains of the temple of King Amenophis III,
are the "Colossi of Memnon". These two gigantic
statues, cut out of single blocks of sandstone, are 17.9
metres high and weigh over 700 tons. Originally they were
placed at the entrance of the greatest mortuary temple
in Thebes, which unfortunately disappeared, since it was
used as a quarry in the Ramesside period. The colossi
received their name after the legend of Memnon, the son
of the "dawn" in the Greek mythology.
Beyond
the pylon which is 63 metres high and decorated with war
scenes, one enters first a courtyard, one side of which
is taken up by a decorated gallery with Osirian pillars.
beyond other gates and other courtyards one eventually
arrives at the last hypostyle hall which is dominated
by a group of statues depicting Ramses III with the god
Thot.