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The Valley of the Kings is the cemetery of the most famous kings in ancient Egyptian history of the new kingdom. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River in Thebes, or Luxor city now.

It is considered as one of the most important archaeological sites and historical destinations in the world, which motivated the archaeologists to do excavations there.

This valley is divided into two valleys, the east and the west. The east valley is more famous than the west one, as the west valley houses few tombs.

The valley contains 62 tombs and almost twenty unfinished tombs. King Thutmose I was the first King was buried in this valley, while King Ramses VVI was the last one. Then Kings of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties also buried here. The most famous royal tomb in this valley is the tomb of King Tutankhamun that was discovered nearly intact.

The name of Valley of the Kings is not entirely accurate, as there are members of the royal family and a few non-royal who very high-ranking as the tomb of Yuya and Tuya were buried here.

Most of these tombs have a simple plan and are decorated with religious inscriptions as:
• The Amduat depicting the journey of the sun god during the 12 hours of the night.
• The Book of Caves showing the underworld divided into caves where the gods and the dead waiting for the sun god to bring them back to life.

Why did the ancient Egyptian choose this place to be the Valley of the Kings?
• This site was chosen according to the ancient Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife, as they thought that the sun god (Ra) set (died) in the western horizon to be reborn and rejuvenated in the eastern one. So the ancient Egyptians considered the west as funerary associations.
• This mountain takes the shape of the pyramid, the symbol of rebirth and eternal life in ancient Egyptian beliefs.
• This valley is isolated what provides more Anti-theft protection for the corpses of kings buried in it.

There are a huge number of workers who were working in the construction of this great valley. So these workers needed a near home to live, so they built Deir El-Medina or the Village of Workers.

Karnak temple is located on the east bank of the Nile River in Thebes, or Luxor city now. It is considered as a complex, not just a temple, because its walls include several temples as the Khonsu temple, the Opet temple, and the great temple of Amun Ra.

This complex is considered one of the most important ancient Egyptian temples in Thebes, as it was the center for worshipping the god Amun. So this temple was extremely wealthy, and its priesthood held great political power during ancient Egyptian history.

As most ancient Egyptian temples, Karnak temple was constructed on an east-west axis. As in ancient Egyptian mythology, they thought that this design looking like the sun god’s trajectory through the sky. Also, Karnak temple distinguishes with another north-south axis to link between Karnak complex and Luxor temple through the avenue of rams.

Karnak Complex Elements The design of Karnak Complex is very complicated, as due to its religious importance, many kings from the middle kingdom to the Ptolemaic period added buildings to this complex, making it reach a size, complexity, and diversity.

• This complex starts with an avenue of rams. In front of the 1^st pylon, there are 20 rams on each side, dating back to King Nectanebo I of the 30th dynasty.

• Then, the first open court, containing several elements. The column or kiosk of King Taharqa of the 25th dynasty. This is the only remained column from a colonnade that once had 10 columns. On the left, there are 3 shrines built by king Seti II for the triad of Thebes (Amun, Mut, and Khonsu). On the right, there is the Temple of King Ramses III. As well, there is the open museum court containing the white shrine of king Senusret I, the alabaster shrine of king Amenhotep I, and the red shrine of Queen Hatshepsut. These shrines were discovered into the 3rd pylon and rebuilt again.
• The second pylon of king Horemheb of the 18^th
• The Great Hypostyle Hall containing 134 columns from the sandstone. This hall was built by King Amenhotep III and completed by kings Seti I and his son Ramses II.
• Then the 3^rd pylon of king Amenhotep III, where the 3 shrines in the open museum court had found.
• The Court of Thutmose I, where was existing 2 obelisks standing in front of the 4th pylon. It is thought that this pylon was the main entrance for Karnak temple during king Thutmose I’s period. Unfortunately, one of these two obelisks is lost.
• Another court of King Thutmose I. This court housed 2 obelisks for Queen Hatshepsut. They were made of red granite. Unfortunately, the right obelisk is lost. After the death of Queen Hatshepsut, so King Thutmose III did a mysterious thing. He founded a high wall around those two obelisks. This sparked a lot of arguments among scholars, as they are wondering what the purpose of this wall is.
• The 5th pylon, which also was built by king Thutmose I, but was damaged.
• The 6^th pylon was built by king Thutmose III. It is the smallest pylon in this complex. This pylon leads to the Ancestral Room founded by King Thutmose III.
• Then the Holy of Holies of temple.
• Behind it, there is a courtyard housing remains dating back to the middle kingdom. This courtyard contains a hall called (Akh-Mnw), meaning the Feasts Hall. This hall was built by King Thutmose III. As well, there is another room called The Botanical Room, decorated with depictions of plants, animals, and birds, which King Thutmose III brought from Syria to ancient Egypt.
• Now, we will go through the north-south axis that can be accessed between the 3rd and the 4th pylons to reach the 7th pylon of king Thutmose III. In this place in 1902, the French Egyptologist Georges Legrain discovered a cache. This cache contained several bronze statues. In front of the 7th pylon, there were 2 obelisks of king Thutmose III. One of them is transferred to İstanbul, as Muhammad Ali Pasha gave it to King Louis.
• Karnak Complex distinguishes with its sacred lake, where priests purified themselves before performing temple rituals for the god Amun. Besides this lake, you will be able to notice the scarab is considered the biggest scarab in ancient Egypt. This is the scarab of the marriage of King Amenhotep III and his beloved wife Tiye.

• The 8th pylon was built by Queen Hatshepsut, completed by Thutmose III, and restored by Seti I. Then there is a court.
• The 9th and 10th pylons. They date back to king Horemheb of the 18th dynasty. Inside these pylons, it is found the rocks of the temple of the god Aton, as king Horemheb used them for filling his pylons.
• Finally, the temple finished with the avenue of rams leading to Mut temple.

Colossi of Memnon are two massive statues on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor city. They stood at the entrance of the mortuary temple of king Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty, New kingdom. These statues are the only residual part of this temple.

These two twin statues depict King Amenhotep III, seating on the throne chair and wearing the Nemes, the royal headdress. The statues measure 20 meters tall. They are made of quartzite sandstone. The northern statue presents the king with a small statue for his mother (Mutemwiya), while the southern one presents him with his beloved wife (Tiye). Amenhotep, son of Hapu supervised the construction of these statues.

After an earthquake had occurred in 27 BC, the northern statue was deeply affected, as cracks appearing on it. These cracks resulted to when the winds were passing through the northern statue at dawn, making mysterious sounds and forming dew drops on the statue’s body.

The Greeks linked between these sounds and dewdrops and the crying of Memnon’s mother on her killing son (Memnon). Memnon was the king of Ethiopia, traveled to Asia to help in defending Trojan city, the beleaguered city under attack. But he was killed by Achilles. So they are famous for the Colossi of Memnon.

Later the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus restored the northern statue that led these sounds to stop.

Read more about sightseeing of Egypt with Egypt Vacation Tours articles.

Luxor temple is one of the most beautiful remained monuments on the east bank of the Nile River in Thebes, or Luxor city now.

The history of construction of Luxor temple King Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty started to build this temple, but the main building of the temple was completed by King Tutankhamun and King Horemheb. Then King Ramses II added some elements to the temple.

During Amenhotep III’s reign, the main entrance of the temple was on the northern side. After that, you will see the great colonnade consisting of seven pairs. It takes the shape of high open-flower papyrus columns. Then you will move to the courtyard of King Amenhotep III. Then the hypostyle hall, containing thirty-two columns.

The cache of Luxor temple was discovered by the archaeologist Muhammad al-Saghir on the morning of January 22, 1989.  While he was cleaning the courtyard of King Amenhotep III, he found a wonderful collection of statues for gods and kings of the New kingdom. Most of these collections are moved to be displayed at Luxor Museum.

Behind the hypostyle hall, there are four secondary rooms, the room of the Divine birth of King Amenhotep III, Alexander the Great’s shrine, and the Holy of Holies of the triad of Thebes (Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu).

The divine birth room houses depictions tell an amazing story of how the king’s true father was none other than the god Amun himself.

The King Ramses II adds:
• He added a massive pylon decorated with inscriptions of the Kadesh Battle against the Hittites. This pylon was preceded by six colossal statues for King Ramses II himself and two obelisks made of granite. Now, one of these two obelisks is transferred to the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

In front of this pylon, there is the avenue of sphinxes linking between Luxor Temple and Karnak Complex. This avenue was used during the Opet Festival, as Amun used it to move from Karnak Complex to Luxor Temple.

• Also, King Ramses II built another courtyard in front of the great colonnade of King Amenhotep III. In this courtyard, on the right side, you will see the shrine of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose III.

  

The temple was remained used in the Greco-Roman period. In the Christian period, the hypostyle hall of the temple was changed to be a Christian church.

After many years, the temple was covered and hidden by sand and streets, resulting in the construction of the Yusuf Abu al-Hajjaj mosque over the Northeast side of the temple in the courtyard of King Ramses II in 640.

The construction of the Aswan high dam was a great dream for President Gamal Abdel Nasser to ensure developing Egypt for all Egyptians. The high dam is fed by the River Nile from south.

The History of Aswan High Dam There are two dams in Aswan, Aswan Low Dam and Aswan High Dam. Aswan Low Dam was constructed in 1898 and completed in 1902. But it was not adequate to control the annual flooding, leading to President Gamal Abdel Nasser think in constructing a higher dam in 1952. The construction for the project began in 1960 after getting funding and was completed in 1968. It was officially inaugurated in 1971.

There is a huge reservoir behind the dam, called Lake Nasser. It was finished filling in 1979.  This reservoir is with a reservoir capacity of 132km³.

The construction of this dam is considered an impressive engineering feat, as it is 360 feet tall and 12,500 feet across.

The Benefits of the Dam Although the construction of the dam led to a rise in the level of the Nile River, which led to immersion of many monuments and archeological sites as Philae Temple.

Despite this, the dam provides several benefits to Egypt, as

• It provides water for around 33,600km² of irrigation land and contributes to increasing the cultivable land in Egypt.
• It controls flooding that was threatening the lives of citizens.
• It generates power, as it was responsible for producing around 50 % of the electricity production in Egypt and providing many villages with electricity for the first time.
• It helps in improving navigation across the Nile.