Luxor Temple

Site, Luxor (ancient Thebes) · also called Temple of Luxor, Ipet-resyt, Southern Opet

Luxor Temple shows how one temple collected the names of its builders: Amenhotep III's cartouches in the sun court, Tutankhamun's festival reliefs, Ramesses II's pylon and obelisk, and Alexander the Great written as a pharaoh.

The temple sits in the centre of modern Luxor. The Egyptians called it Ipet-resyt, the 'southern sanctuary'. Each year, in the Opet festival, the statue of Amun came here from Karnak, about 3 km to the north, along a processional way. An avenue of sphinxes joining the two temples reopened in 2021.

Amenhotep III (c. 1390–1352 BC) built most of it. Later rulers kept adding. The temple is open into the evening, and floodlit carving can be easier to read than the same wall in midday sun. The mosque of Abu el-Haggag still stands on top of part of the front court.

What to see and read

Pylon and obelisk of Ramesses II

The gateway shows the Battle of Kadesh, with the king in his chariot. One obelisk still stands in front, covered with his names and titles; its pair has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836.

Colonnade and Opet reliefs

Boats, priests, musicians and offerings of the Opet festival. Tutankhamun had them carved, but his names were later replaced, mostly by Horemheb.

Sun court of Amenhotep III

A wide court of papyrus-bundle columns. Where the bases and architraves survive, the king's cartouches are deep and easy to read.

Birth room

Scenes showing the god Amun as the father of Amenhotep III, with the creator god Khnum shaping the child.

Bark shrine of Alexander

Alexander the Great makes offerings to Amun as an Egyptian king would. His name is written in hieroglyphs inside a cartouche.

Names you can find here

Signs to look for

Game board Y5mn The game board spells Amun in Amenhotep and Tutankhamun.
Feather H6mꜣꜥt The feather spells maat in the throne names of both Amenhotep III and Ramesses II.
Head and neck of a canine F12wsr The canine head spells user in Usermaatre, Ramesses II's throne name, on the pylon and obelisk.
Ankh S34ꜥnḫ The ankh is offered to the king by Amun in scene after scene.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

Visit twice if you can: late afternoon for raking light, then after dark under the floodlights.
On the obelisk, stand back to frame one column of text, then zoom in to box the signs with the Hiero Lens camera.
Recut names in the colonnade often keep traces of the earlier signs.

Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

Who built Luxor Temple?

Mostly Amenhotep III. Ramesses II added the front court, the pylon and the obelisks, and Alexander the Great rebuilt the bark shrine.

Where is the other Luxor obelisk?

In Paris. It was given to France and has stood in the Place de la Concorde since 1836.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.