Head to Egypt and you’ll have a hard time choosing which attraction to see first. Besides the Pyramids, the magnificent Nile River, and the Red Sea, one of the things that attract the most visitors is the Luxor Temple, an ancient temple complex that sits on the east bank of the Nile River. Here are three things you didn’t know about it.
Not Just A Burial Site
While most Egyptian temples are dedicated to a certain pharaoh or god, Luxor is different. It’s the place where the great pharaohs were coronated and where the “rebirth” was celebrated every year along with a coronation. Of course, the temple also served as a place for eternal rest for the pharaohs.
A Missing Obelisk
The obelisk that stands at the Place de la Concorde in Paris is actually from the Luxor Temple. The King of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, gave it to the King of France, Louis Philippe, as a gift in 1829. It took three years to transport it.
Sacred Site
The Luxor Temple was always a sacred site, and this is true even for the temple that was on its location before it was built. That other temple was dedicated to Amun, the God of Air and later used as a church by the Romans.