Luxor Temple

The earliest parts of the temple still standing are the barque chapels, just behind the first pylon. They were built by Hatshepsut (The lady whose mortuary temple was trashed by her jerk son), and appropriated by Tuthmosis III (The jerk son of Queen Hatshepsut) . The main part of the temple - the colonnade and the sun court were built by Amenhotep III, and a later addition by Rameses II (The guy who built the giant temple at Abu Simbel and finished a host of other giant Egyptian projects), who built the entrance pylon, and the two obelisks (one of which was given to France), and is now at the centre of the Place de la Concorde linked the Hatshepsut buildings with the main temple.

To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Tuthmosis III, and Alexander (The only person who upon conquering Egypt built more temples rather then destroying them). During the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area. (Mostly copied from Wikipedia)

It was really nice to see this temple as the sun was setting. Unfortunately, my camera's not the best at taking picture at night and a lot of the photos lack a crisp clear picture.






The pictures directly above and below are of the Mosque that was built on top of the temple when the Muslims conquered Egypt. Though the temple is now fully excavated and open to tourists, the mosque is still in use (Egypt is presently a Muslim country).















The Avenue of Sphinxes outside Luxor Temple is brilliant at night. Apparently, the avenue was built all the way from Karnak to Luxor. Most of it is presently burried, but is being excavated. Egypt plans to turn the heart of Luxor (the city in which both of these temples stand) into a huge outdoor museum. The Avenue of the Sphinxes will be a pedestrian walkway.