Valley of the Kings & Queens and Karnak Temple, Egypt

Egyptian Muslim Woman 
at Karnak Temple - Egypt

Bentanat (Ramses II Wife & Daughter)
- Karnak Temple

Deire Madina (Workers' Valley)
from Hot Air Balloon - Egypt

Sunrise from Hot Air Balloon 
Over Ancient Egyptian Sites

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut - Egypt

Valley of the Kings & Valley of the Queens and Karnak Temple, Egypt (5/7/2010) - This is one of the amazing places of world history. Karnak Temple is a must see!

We started our day at 3:30 am for a fun exciting hot air balloon ride over the entire Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens while watching the sunrise (see photos) – a unique experience!

Relief at Temple 
of Queen of Hatshepsut - Egypt

The Valley of the Kings (World Heritage Site) where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, 63 elaborate royal tombs and chambers were constructed for the kings and powerful nobles ranging in size from a simple pit to a complex tomb with over 120 chambers. All of the tombs (except the tomb of Tutankhamen) seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of the rulers of this time. Not able to take photos in the Valley of the Kings, we visited several tombs such as Ramses IX. 

The tombs were constructed and decorated by the workers of the village of Deir el-Medina (Worker’s Valley – see photo), located between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. In Deir al-Bahr, the Temple of Hatshepsut (see photos) has been restored since 1891 and shows the magnificence of these ancient Egyptian temples. This place gains special attention because Hatshepsut was one of a very few queens of ancient Egypt. She successfully ruled Egypt about 3,500 years ago and re-established trading relationships lost during a foreign occupation and brought great wealth to Egypt. 

We also visited the separate Valley of the Queens, that Ramses I (1301BC) commenced construction, viewing a couple of tombs of Ramses’ children (he had 63 of them!).  

One of our favorite experiences of our trip to Egypt was the Karnak Temple (see photo). Everything is on a gigantic scale (well over a square mile). Karnak Temple is a vast conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels, pylons and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amen (the largest religious building ever built). Located near Luxor, Karnak Temple is part of the ancient city of Thebes, which was the religious and cultural capital of ancient Egypt for centuries. 

Hypostyle Hall 
in Karnak Temple - Egypt

Karnak Temple was the most important place of worship in Egypt during the New Kingdom. Starting as early as the 20th century BC, over a 1,500-year period about thirty pharaohs contributed to Karnak Temple's  building, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. 

Few of the individual features of Karnak Temple are unique, but the size and number of features are overwhelming. We were impressed with the Hypostyle Hall - an area of 50,000 sq. ft. with 134 massive columns (see photos). 

A quick stop at the 3,400-year old Colossi of Memnon was interesting because these two statues are all that are left of a temple that may have been larger than Karnak Temple but unfortunately was built in a flood plain of the Nile River and has disappeared over the centuries.

For more about amazing Egypt and the Temples and treasures along the Nile River, please see our 5 other blog posts:

Egypt Cairo Capital

Egypt Abu Simbel Aswan High Dam Temple of Philae

Egypt Great Pyramids Sphinx Giza

Egypt Luxor Temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu

Egypt Nile River Felucca Boat Trip

and Egypt’s beautiful Red Sea resorts:

Egypt Dahab Sea Sea

Egypt Sharm el Shiekh Red Sea

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Write by: AN - Wednesday, May 19, 2010