The 5 most important Egyptian monuments They are on the list of any traveler interested in universal culture.
Egypt It still arouses great curiosity today, as its treasures bear witness to another distant and almost magical time in the history of humanity. But what are these Egyptian monuments that you cannot miss?
The Pyramids of Giza
Of course our list must begin with this architectural wonder: the Pyramids of Giza, which are one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
La Great Pyramid It is the oldest and largest of the trio, and is the first thing any traveler sees when setting foot in the country. It is also known as the Pyramid of Cheops And if we stick to archaeology, it was ordered to be built by the pharaoh of the same name during the fourth dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
That is, about 2.600 years. Also It was for about 3.800 years the tallest man-made structure in the world.It has a height of 146.5 meters from the ground to the highest point and below the ground there are 10 more meters that are buried.
Its interior It has three cameras, which are now called the "King's Chamber" and the "Queen's Chamber", and below the floor there is another chamber. A descending passage provides access to them, which is now blocked, and there are also other passages that lead to the chamber below the ground and to what is known as the Grand Gallery, a passage 47 metres long and 8 metres high, with vertical walls.
The king's chamber has no decoration at all, it is all plain, and there is something resembling a granite sarcophagus, empty and without any kind of drawing, which must have been placed at the beginning of the construction because it does not go through any passage. The queen's chamber does not even have a "sarcophagus", it is rectangular and has a gabled roof.
The pyramid also has channels, later called "ventilation channels", although it is not known what their original function was. Of course, this is what archaeology says, but we already know that for many its construction, how it was built and whether it is really only 2500 years old are still a mystery.
In addition to the Great Pyramid, the trio is completed with the Pyramid of Khafre and Pyramid of Menkaure.
the sphinx
Another mysterious wonder on our list of the 5 most important Egyptian monuments. the sphinx It is almost 20 meters high and about 70 meters long.. Has chuman head and lion's body and that combination represents the union of strength and intelligence.
Not much is known about her and that is why she is very mysterious: When was it built? By whom? What shape did it have in its original version? Modern archaeology says it was built around the year 2500 BC as part of the funerary complex of Khafre. It is made of limestone and has a temple just in front of it and another one further north, next to it.
His nose is missing And although for some time it was thought that it had been Napoleon's imprudent troops who had been shooting at it, it is now known, from much earlier drawings, that the Sphinx had long since lost its nose by the time Napoleon and his troops passed through Egypt.
Studies also reveal that at some point a beard was added, the remains are in the British Museum, and a crown. The truth is that the monument was buried in sand for a long time and only the sand was completely removed in 1926.
The interesting thing about the Esginge is the new idea that emerges from the geo archaeology: : the erosion on the monument could be due to water and not sand and wind, and if so The Sphinx would be much older, around 15 thousand years, or between 5 and 7 thousand.
You can visit her every day between 7 am and 7 pm. The price is 540 LE per adult.
Luxor Temples
It is a temple complex that is in the city of Karnak, an ancient fortified city on the eastern bank of the Nile River, north of Luxor. Today it forms part of the Ancient Thebes complex and is World Heritage Site since 1979.
There are many temples inside, a temple dedicated to Opet, another to Ptah, another temple dedicated to Khonsu, and there are also the beautiful precincts of Montu and Mut. But, without a doubt, one of the most interesting chapters of Egyptian history is the one starring the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a guy who turned to an almost monotheistic religion because He worshipped Aten above all the Egyptian gods.
Thus, the name was changed from Amenhotep or Amenophis IV to Akhenaten, honoring Aton, the god of the solar disk, and from there he did not hesitate to build and modify temples. And here is one of his best works: the Temple of Aton. This temple has no roof, so the sun can enter with absolute freedom and it is a beauty.
The Temple of Hatshepsut
On our list of The 5 most important Egyptian monuments It's your turn Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, built in front of Luxor.
Today it is partially reconstructed so we can get a great idea of what this temple dedicated to the Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the 1473th Dynasty was originally like. The sovereign lived, circa, between 1458 and XNUMX BC.
The temple rests directly across the Nile from Karnak and Its main structure is dedicated to the god Amun. It has three levels, each with a colonnade to the end. On the upper level there is an open courtyard and contains statues of the sovereign and of Osiris, the God of Death.
It is a mortuary temple and continued to be very active after the death of the queen. It was dedicated to the queen, but also to her father, Tusthmosis I, to Osiris, to the goddess Hathor and to the god Anubis and to Ra, the god of the sun.
It has colorful reliefs on its walls that reflect past events, important in the history of that period of Ancient Egypt, which is interesting to expand knowledge of that civilization.
Temple of Ramses III
This ancient temple It is located in Medient Habu, west of Luxor, and it is our last monument on the list of the 5 most important Egyptian monuments.
The temple is huge and It has more than 7 thousand square meters of walls with beautiful reliefsIt is surrounded by a fortress and inside there are different chapels dedicated to Amun's wife, princesses and queens.
The temple was first excavated in the mid-19th century, erasing all the Coptic buildings that were out of keeping with the originals. It is one of the Egyptian temples that most delights travellers and one of the most popular both in the media and in terms of the number of visitors.