Luxor is a town situated
in Upper Egypt, the province of Qena. Luxor was the ancient town of Thebes, previously
the capital of Ancient Egypt. The early Arab travelers, who admired Luxor for the
several ruins and monuments scattered around the town, gave it its name. Actually
in Arabic Luxor means "the palaces". Luxor, Probably the famous town and interesting
destination in Egypt. In this city, the former Thebes, some of the biggest and best
preserved temples of the ancient times can be visited. The city of Luxor has usually
been characterised as the greatest open air museum of the world", the ruins of the
temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor standing within the modern city. However, across
the Nile River, also lie the monuments, tombs and temples on the West Bank Necropolis,
which include the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. The city of Luxor
continues to be a major tourist destination since the late Dynasties of the Greek
and Roman periods. Thousands of international tourists arrive each year to visit
these monuments, their presence forming a large part of the economic basis for the
modern city. As a result. However in the city of Luxor, there are only 3 main streets
consisting of Sharia al-Karnak, Sharia al-Mahatta and the Corniched, next to the
Nile.
Luxor at the Nile
The city of
Luxor has around of 150,000 inhabitants and is governed by special statues that
allow it more autonomy then other political areas of Egypt. In the city of Luxor
on the East Bank, one of the first stops must be the Temple of Luxor built by Amenophis
III. Head south on Sharia al-Karnak to reach the temple, which was connected to
the Karnak Temple via a long stone processional street called a dromos. In that
time, the dromos was built by Nectanebo I, and after originally was lined on either
side by sphinxes.
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