Just 600 km from Cairo is the oldest city in Egypt, the city of the living and the dead, called Luxor. Until the New Age, the city was called Great Thebes, and the prefix "great" is not at all accidental, it was the place of life and reign of the greatest pharaohs of the era.
History of the city in the past
Back in the 21st century B. C. Luxor became the capital of Egypt. It was located on both banks of the Nile at once, but the mouths of this river were not only a source of water, but also played a sacramental role in the life of the native inhabitants. The Nile BC was called Styx and divided the city into two parts: the World of the Living and the World of the Dead. On one side of the river, palaces, temples, architectural monuments, marble paths flourished and shone, life reigned and boiled, the pharaohs, called kings, ruled, on the other side of the Nile, life stopped forever and froze in anticipation - the World of the Dead was and is to this day in tombs and pyramids.
Luxor, Egypt - City of the Living
This beautiful city has an interesting history. In the era when Luxor made Egypt its capital, the country was experiencing a flowering of architectural culture. The names of the ruling pharaohs of that period are imprinted on theirtombs and monuments, among them Ramesses, Seth, Tetmos, Tutankhamun, Amenophis and others. Worshiping the god Amun, they built huge tombs for themselves and their wives and after death they took with them all the most valuable things: weapons, jewelry made of gold, silver, gems and copper, clothes and even letters.
The world of the living flourished in Luxor, temples towered up to the sky among laurel leaves, alleys of sphinxes met the guests of the temples with their stone frozen looks, artificial oases of greenery in the very center of the desert gave freshness, the smell of flowering orchids, emerald light. Luxurious palaces made ordinary travelers who saw them for the first time shudder. These were huge structures, where thousands of people could fit at the same time, their windows were covered with textile capes from the world's first cambric, which appeared in Egypt. If foreigners heard the name of the country Egypt - Luxor popped up before their eyes, dotted with palaces and temples, monuments and large markets. It was a mighty city.
If you visit Luxor - Egypt of the world of the living - you will see the oldest and largest surviving temple in the country - the Luxor Temple. It stood for 2100 years BC, and almost the same is already standing in ours, it is twice as old as our chronology, but its majestic columns stand without flinching, stone cats look at visitors with mysterious glances, as if they know that everyone is not will, and they will stand, guarding the peace of Amon. No less majestic temple was erected in Karnak to the sun god Amun-Ra. majesty andthe monumentality of the building still makes architects think about how, in a time when mechanized labor was completely absent, stone blocks weighing 2 tons rose to a height of 20-30 meters.
From the world of the living to the world of the dead
Having ended his reign in the world of the living, each pharaoh left the right side of the Nile, fell into Luxor - Egypt of the world of the dead. On the left bank of the river are the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, where there are more than 40 tombs, where Thutmes 1, Thutmes 2, Thutmes 3, Tutankhamun, Hatshepsut, Madinet-Abu and others rested. Many tombs are located deep in the rocks, only the length of the passages is from 70 meters. Such temples, to which the kings of Egypt went to eternity after death, were created for decades, decorated and turned into real sanctuaries. In order to prevent any of the contemporaries from encroaching on the we alth of the dead pharaohs, their tombs were protected by the curse of the gods, and anyone who touched the gold of the kings of the past had to face the most terrible punishment.
The peace and riches of the past beckon us today. In 1979, in order to protect the monumental structures and museums of Luxor, the city was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit a living "open air museum" - Luxor. Egypt will not be revealed in all its glory to those who have not seen this city. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year. For most travelers visiting Egypt, Luxor (photo on the Internet - proof of this) is one of the main attractions.
