Karnak Temple

The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak is located in Luxor, Egypt. It consists of a number of temples, chapels, an ancient “swimming pool” and other buildings built beginning in the 20th century BC during the reign of Senusret I. The complex is connected via an avenue of sphinxes to Luxor Temple.

To the right of the complex entrance is a small mosque while the entrance itself consists of two huge, carved, stone pylons between which there is a passage leading into a courtyard with several temples then further leads into a large room of tall columns which would originally have had a roof (now missing).

The back section of the complex has several obelisks and more temples.

To the right of the main temple area (the south of the site) there is a large square pool whose use is unclear though is theorized to be simply a swimming pool.

To the far left (north) of the site there is an area of architectural and carved stones as well as an additional entrance to the site.

It is worth doing a bit of research prior to any visit to make best use of your time on this huge site.

Karnak is located in the middle of Luxor so getting here is not difficult with easy access by bus, car and taxi (or even walking if you are in the city).

There is a large car park at the main entrance building which houses the ticket office and security facilities as well as a small display introducing the site including, helpfully, a scale model. The site is easy to navigate with signage to the main areas of interest but otherwise signage is non-existent. There is a café inside the complex on the north (left) shore of the swimming pool.

For further information, please see:

• Lonely Planet - Karnak
• Wikipedia - Karnak