Our in-house team designs solo and group tours, VIP visits, bespoke travel, eco-tourism, travel adventures with approved egyptologists.****
Ancient Egypt is a mega-ark library. Gateways to ancestors, benevolent and mythical gods that guide, serve and protect our human story. This is the ancient architecture of modern civilisation.
Luxor (Arabic: أَلْأُقْصُر Al 'Uqṣur) the name of "Luxor" means "Palaces" and it is the premier travel destination in Upper (southern) Egypt and the Nile Valley. The dynastic and religious capital of Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Egypt, Luxor has much to offer travellers: vast temples, ancient royal tombs, spectacular desert and river scenery, vibrant agricultural and modern life.
Valley of the Kings Note that with this ticket, you will get to choose 3 tombs to visit of usually about 8 open in Valley of the Kings. Extra entry is required for Tutankhamen and Seti I. A camera ticket is extra.
- The Karnak temple complex at Luxor developed over more than 1,000 years, principally between the Twelfth and Twentieth Dynasties. . It was, at its peak, the largest and most important religious complex in ancient Egypt. The most significant structure, and the largest religious building ever built, is the Temple of Amun-Ra, considered to be where that god lived on earth with his wife, Mut, and son, Khonsu, who also have temples at the site. The Temple of Amun-Ra is famed for the vast Hypostyle Hall constructed during the reign of Seti I. After Memphis became the new dynastic capital, many of Luxor’s temples declined in importance. In later centuries, Ptolemaic rulers and Coptic Christians altered parts of the complex for their own uses. The area was in constant development and use between the Middle Kingdom (2080–1640 B.C.) and the early Christian period.
Medinet Habu Medinet Habu was known as Djanet and was the place were Amun first appeared. Both Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III built a temple dedicated to Amun here and Later Rameses III constructed his larger memorial temple on the site. The ancient Egyptian name for the region is iꝫt ṯꝫmt or Iat Tjamet(which morphed later into Iat Djamet). This means Mound of Tjamet (or Djamet).
Ramsesses III built his mortuary temple, also known as the Temple of Medinet Habu, which is considered an architectural masterpiece due to its beauty and preservation. It was dedicated to performing his funeral rituals, as well as to performing the rituals of worshiping the god Amun. This temple was built according to the usual traditions of temple construction in this era and is largely inspired by the Ramesseum. The earliest building on the site was a small shrine of the 11th dynasty (2081–1938 BCE), of which only the foundations remain. The shrine was later much enlarged by Hatshepsut and Thutmose III as a temple dedicated to the local form of Amon and the primeval Ogdoad (group of eight deities of the creation myth in Middle Kingdom Egypt [1938–c. 1630 BCE]).
The Tombs of the Nobles A number of tomb-areas on the West Bank at modern Luxor (Ancient Thebes) is known collectively as the Tombs of the Nobles.
- Tombs 96 (Sennofer - beautiful with many paintings) and 100 (Rekhmire - very large, also many paintings) which are the most interesting
- Tombs 55 (Ramose - large but empty), 56 (Userhet - agricultural scenes and many of Osiris) and 57 (Khaemhet - statues inside)
- Tombs 52 (smaller but includes explanations), 69 (Meena - many paintings), 41 (newly discovered)
The Ramesseum Temple Rammeseum (Rameses The Great), The Temple of the Ramesseum was built by Ramsesses II as a funerary Temple in 1304-1207 B.C and was dedicated to the god Ra. Most of the Temple is in ruins today. The entrance to the temple once had two pylons that have since collapsed. In the first courtyard, of the temple, only a colonnaded hall has survived. In front of the ruins of the first pylon, there once stood a colossal statue of Ramses that was more than 1000 tons in weight and 18 metres high.
Colossi of Memnon On the West Bank of Luxor sit the Colossi of Memnon. These are statues of Amunhotep III (c.1390-1353 B.C.E.) which are about 64 feet (19.6 meters) in height and are carved of quartzite. These statues flanked the main entrance into Amunhotep’s mortuary temple.
Deir el Medina or the Valley of the Artisans Extremely underrated and hardly visited is Deir el Medina where the paintings are so well preserved and gorgeous. Very easy to get to as you will likely pass it while visiting other sites. Ticket allows entry into 3 stunning tombs.
Howard Carter's House The original house of Howard Carter is a small museum.
Karnak Temples Complex The massive temple complex of Karnak was the principal religious center of the god Amun-Re in Thebes during the New Kingdom (which lasted from 1550 until 1070 B.C.E.). The complex remains one of the largest religious complexes in the world.
The annual Opet Festival, during which the sacred barks of the triad of Thebes, Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, together with that of the ruling king journeyed from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple, became a central religious celebration of Thebes as early as the 18th Dynasty. The rituals of the Opet Festival celebrated the sacred marriage of god Amun, with whom the king merged, and goddess Mut, resulting in the transmission of the royal ka (image of soul) and thus ensuring the maintenance of kingship.
Luxor Temple Ipet-resyt “Southern Sanctuary” to the ancient Egyptians, was so called because of its location within ancient Thebes (modern Luxor). It is located around three kilometers to the south of Karnak Temple, to which it was once linked with a processional way bordered with sphinxes. The oldest evidence for this temple dates to the Eighteenth Dynasty (c.1550–1295 BC). Ipet-resyt, unlike most other ancient Egyptian temples, is not laid out on an east-west axis, but is oriented towards Karnak.
Constructed over hundreds of years by Amenhotep III, Ramses II, Tutankhamun, and other pharaohs, Luxor Temple was a large and significant religious center in ancient Egypt. In what was then Thebes, Luxor Temple was “the place of the First Occasion,” where the god Amon experienced rebirth during the pharaoh’s annually reenacted coronation ceremony. Today, remains of this vast complex include the colossal Great Colonnade Hall, almost 61 meters long, with 28 twenty-one-foot-high columns, its decoration largely undertaken by Tutankhamun around 1330 B.C. René Adolphe Schwaller is famed for his work on Temple of Man. R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz's masterwork is the culmination of his exhaustive 12-year study at the great temple of Amun-Mut-Khonsu at Luxor, which is revealed to be an architectural encyclopedia of humanity and the universe.
Temple of Hathor, Danderah Temple of Hathor, Danderah, is a Greco-Roman temple complex known in ancient Egyptian as Iunet or Tantere. The modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert, which means 'She of the Divine Pillar.
Seti I and Ramesses II, Abydos It was a cult center of the canine necropolis god Khentiamentiu whose temple existed here from very early times. In the Fifth dynasty, his cult was gradually absorbed by that of Osiris, and the city soon became the focal point of the cult of Osiris. Abydos was revered as the center of the cult of the important god Osiris, who with Isis and son Horus, formed a divine triad that was closely associated with the divine aspects of Egyptian kingship. Abydos is best known as the burial place of Egypt’s first pharaohs, those rulers responsible for the political unification of the country ca.3100 B.C. For millennia, Egypt’s pharaohs built temples at Abydos to commemorate their link to these royal forbears, and to strengthen their identification with the sacred cults of Osiris and Horus.
There are two remaining temples located at Abydos: the temples of Seti I and Ramesses II (19th Dynasty – New Kingdom).
Temple of Isis, Philae, Aswan Philae Temple: The monuments of Philae include many structures dating predominantly to the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC). The most prominent of these is a temple begun by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC), which he dedicated to Isis, the mother of Horus, the god of kingship.
Abu Simbel Abu Simbel is on the west bank of the Nile, 280 km (180 miles) south of Aswan, in the ancient and now submerged land of Nubia. The area of the temple was called "the Domain of Ramesses-Beloved-of-Amun." Built by Ramesses II, it was rediscovered for the western world by Johann Ludwig (Jean-Louis) Burckhardt in 1813.
The larger of the two temples contains four colossal statues of a seated Ramses II at its entrance, each about 69 feet (21 meters) tall. The entranceway to the temple was built in such a way that on two days of the year, October 22 and February 22, the light would shine into the inner sanctuary and light up three statues seated on a bench, including one of the pharaoh. It’s been hypothesized that the sun shining inside on these dates may commemorate his coronation and birth.
In addition to the main temple, Abu Simbel has a second, smaller, temple that was probably built for Queen Nefertari. Its front includes two statues of the queen and four of the pharaoh, each about 33 feet (10 meters) in height.
Tell El Amarna Tell el-Amarna is situated in middle Egypt and is the location of the New Kingdom city of Akhetaten, founded by Akhenaten in c. 1347BC as the cult home for the Aten. Occupied only briefly, it is our most complete example of an ancient Egyptian city, at which a contemporaneous urban landscape of cult and ceremonial buildings, palaces, houses, cemeteries and public spaces has been exposed. It is an invaluable source for the study of both Akhenaten’s reign and of ancient Egyptian urbanism. The site has an extensive excavation history, and work continues there today.
The Great Pyramids & The Sphinx The Giza Pyramids Complex, also called the Giza Necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure. The Ancients constructed giant mesmerising structures to hold open gateways of time and eternity for evolution unequalled today. The Ancient Ones speak in sacred texts, sovereign stories, rituals and sacred power of another world. Where Kings and Queens became Gods and their souls stars in the skies.
Memphis/Saqqara Saqqara, the necropolis and pyramid field of Memphis, the first Capital of Egypt, an important historical site for 5,000 years of Egyptian history. It features the small square tombs (mastabas) of the kings of the first and second dynasties Most famously, the first king of the third dynasty, Djoser, asked his vizier and chief architect to erect for him the first monument built entirely of stone in ancient Egypt. The result is the famous step pyramid of Saqqara and its surrounding funerary complex.
The world’s oldest stone structure, the Djoser Pyramid, recently reopened after years of renovation . The Pyramid of Djoser is only a simple element of a large funerary ensemble. From a general point of view, it is included in a large rectangle oriented along the 4 cardinal points.
The Serapeum at Saqqara is the tomb of the sacred Apis bulls that were associated with the god Ptah, whose cult center was in Memphis. An avenue of sphinxes leads to the Serapeum, which is composed of two long corridors that once housed the mummified remains of the bulls. The tomb was in use from the time of Amenhotep III in the New Kingdom through to the Ptolemaic Period
Pyramid of Meidum The pyramid at Meidum is the second pyramid built after Djoser' and may have been originally built for Huni, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, and continued by Sneferu. Because of its unusual appearance, the pyramid is called el-heram el-kaddaab – (False Pyramid) in Egyptian Arabic.
