Luxor Temple: Egypt's Most Atmospheric Ancient Monument

Luxor Temple sits at the heart of the modern city, on the east bank of the Nile, with the Corniche road running along its eastern edge and a mosque perched visibly on top of its inner courtyard. Unlike Karnak - which stands on the northern outskirts of Luxor - this temple is embedded in the urban fabric in a way that makes the encounter with antiquity unusually immediate. You walk along an ordinary street, turn a corner, and find a 3,000-year-old pylon rising in front of you.

History and Construction

Luxor Temple was primarily built by Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC), with major additions by Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) and later contributions from Tutankhamun, Horemheb, and several Ptolemaic pharaohs. Unlike Karnak - which was the main state temple of Amun and accumulated buildings over 2,000 years - Luxor Temple served a specific ritual function: it was the site of the Opet Festival, the most important annual religious celebration of the New Kingdom.

During the Opet Festival, cult statues of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu were carried in procession from Karnak along the Avenue of Sphinxes to Luxor Temple, where ceremonies were conducted to renew the pharaoh’s divine power. The festival lasted up to four weeks and was accompanied by feasting, music, and large-scale public celebration. The reliefs on the inner walls of the colonnade document the procession in detail - the boats carrying the divine barques, the priests in their ritual roles, the musicians and dancers.

The Entrance: Ramesses II’s Pylon

The entrance façade is dominated by the massive First Pylon erected by Ramesses II. Originally the pylon was flanked by six colossal statues of Ramesses and two obelisks. Two statues and one obelisk remain in Luxor today. The other obelisk was given to France in 1836 and now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The seated and standing colossi flanking the entrance are among the best-preserved large-scale royal sculptures in Egypt. The relief carvings on the pylon face depict Ramesses II’s battle at Kadesh - the same subject he repeated at Abu Simbel, Karnak, and several other temples, treating it as the defining achievement of his reign.

The Great Colonnade of Amenhotep III

Beyond the pylon of Ramesses II lies the courtyard he added, and beyond that, the original temple core built by Amenhotep III. The transition between the two pharaohs’ building campaigns is visually clear - Amenhotep’s work is more refined and elegant in proportion.

The Great Colonnade is the most impressive single element of Luxor Temple: a double row of seven massive papyrus-cluster columns, each 16 metres high, forming a processional avenue through the heart of the building. The columns were originally roofed. The Opet Festival reliefs running along the colonnade walls are the most detailed surviving account of the procession.

The Abu el-Haggag Mosque

The Abu el-Haggag Mosque occupies the north-west corner of the inner court, sitting on a platform that was once the accumulated debris filling the buried temple. When French archaeologist Gaston Maspero cleared the site beginning in 1884, the mosque had stood for more than 600 years. Rather than demolish an active place of worship, the excavations proceeded around it, leaving the mosque cantilevered above the cleared ancient court.

The mosque honours the 13th-century Sufi saint Abu el-Haggag, whose annual moulid (festival) is celebrated with a procession that locals describe as a continuation of the ancient Opet Festival in Islamic form. The mosque is visible from within the temple precinct but access is for worshippers.

The Inner Sanctuaries

The innermost section of the temple dates primarily to Amenhotep III. A series of interconnected halls and antechambers lead to the Sanctuary of Amun, which holds a modern reproduction of the sacred barque shrine. During the Roman period, one of these chambers was converted into a chapel and painted with images of Roman emperors in the pose of Egyptian pharaohs - a pragmatic adaptation that recurs at several Egyptian temples under Roman rule.

Luxor Temple at Night

The temple is open until 10pm and admission costs the same as during the day. The evening visit is considerably more pleasant than the midday alternative: temperatures drop significantly, the site is less crowded, and the illumination - warm floodlights on the sandstone columns and obelisk - makes the scale of the architecture easier to appreciate than in flat midday light.

If you are staying in Luxor for two or more nights, combining a daytime visit to Karnak (when good light is important for reading the relief carvings) with an evening visit to Luxor Temple is a natural and well-paced itinerary. Guided Luxor tours that cover both temples in a single day are a practical option if you want an Egyptologist guide without the overhead of arranging transport independently.

The Avenue of Sphinxes

The Avenue of Sphinxes connected Luxor Temple to Karnak along a 2.7km processional road lined with sphinx statues. The avenue was used during the Opet Festival procession and represents one of the most ambitious pieces of urban religious planning in the ancient world.

Excavation and reconstruction of the avenue were completed around 2020 after decades of archaeological work. The avenue is now walkable as a continuous route between the two temples, passing through residential and commercial areas of modern Luxor. Approximately 1,350 sphinx statues have been identified and restored; the full promenade takes 40–50 minutes on foot at a relaxed pace.

The walk is most pleasant in the cooler hours - early morning or after 4pm. The avenue is lit at night and the combination of sphinxes under streetlights with ordinary Luxor life going on around them is one of the more unusual urban experiences in Egypt.

Entry Fees and Opening Hours

Luxor Temple entry costs approximately EGP 260 per person as of 2026. Opening hours are 6am to 10pm daily. There is no separate fee for the evening visit - the same ticket is valid throughout the day. Tickets are available at the entrance.

A combination ticket covering Luxor Temple and Karnak is sometimes available at a slight reduction; ask at either ticket office.

Getting There

Luxor Temple is at the southern end of the Corniche, walkable from most central Luxor hotels. The entrance is on the west side of the building, facing inland. From Luxor train station, the walk takes approximately 15 minutes. From the ferry landing on the East Bank, it is 5–10 minutes on foot along the Corniche.

For the full picture of Luxor - accommodation across different budgets, restaurants, and how to organise the West Bank - see our Luxor city guide.

See Also

• Karnak Temple - the vast complex 2.7km north, connected by the Avenue of Sphinxes
• Valley of the Kings - the royal necropolis on Luxor’s West Bank
• Hatshepsut Temple - the mortuary temple on the West Bank cliffs
• Luxor Itinerary - how to plan a multi-day visit to East and West Bank
• Luxor West Bank Tours - guided tours combining East and West Bank
• Hot Air Balloon Luxor - dawn flights over the temple complexes