Saturday, May 9, 2009
Architectural Treasures of Luxor
The ceiling of the temple. If you click on the picture,
you can zoom in on the hieroglyphics.
Amazing color for 3300 years old.
The window system of the temple. These temples
had ceilings, so the architects designed a two-tiered
roofline in order to create windows.
More fabulous hieroglyphics!
Just to give you some perspective, that's a doorway
at the end of this temple.
The oldest portions of the temple, located at the
farthest distance, are 3300 years old and pharaohs
built on and out, one more grand than the other.
Imagine, all of this was buried under
incredible volumes of sand, varying from 10 feet
deep to 30 and 60 feet deep.
Doorway at the Queen's Temple
Polish egyptologists built this "building"
to work out of.
The temple built in honor of a King. Just to give
you some perspective, if you click on the picture,
you will just barely see S and the tour guide sitting
on the base of a column to the right of the temple.
Beautiful pillars of open papyrus trees.
Fabulous architectural designs everywhere.
More papyrus pillars
Luxor's treasures
Egyptologists have discovered that there are
2000 of these statues lining the sides of a street
that leads from the Karnak Temple to the Luxor Temple.
The city is in the process of excavating all of them.
The ruins of a Temple built to honor a King.
His mummification took place in this
temple, along with daily offerings after his death.
The ruins of a statue of a Pharoah. Just to give you
some perspective, that's J standing to the left of the
statue at the base of another statue.
The statue of the Pharaoh collapsed in an earthquake.
A close up of the ruins of the Temple. The
statues were de-faced by priests of the coptic
church that took over the temple.
A statue outside the Temple
A mosque inside the Luxor Temple. This mosque is 25 feet
above ground, but was at ground level when these ruins
were buried under sand.
The obelisk and statues, built 3300 years ago, were buried
under sand "chest high" to the statues until the 19th Century
when engineering capabilities to excavate the volumes
of sand were finally developed.
These statues were built to honor sons lost. The Pharaoh
had the architect put holes in the stone, so that, when the
wind blew, he would hear the sound and be reminded
of his sons. Notice the people standing in the center
between the statues, just to give you some perspective
on the size of the statues.
Egyptian Blossoms
Flowers in the Hotel Lobby
A walled home in the city.....
Beautiful flowering tree on the hotel walls
The walkway between hotel "pods"
Beautiful trees on the road to the hotel....
Sailing on the Nile
A family fishing on the Nile
and our hotel in the background.
A felucca docked at the hotel
View from the hotel
Monday, March 30, 2009
International Dance Festival
This is video of S, H, and A (and others) performing in their school's International Dance Festival. S is the short one, H has a red skirt, and A has long blonde hair.
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