The Ancient Avenues of Thebes Uncovered | Travel Research Online

There are places in the world that call back to ancient times; their statues and relics made by hands long gone. The hands of these cultures are alive in the familiar artistry and style of the times. The most recognizable of these are the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, built as an eternal home to the pharaohs almost 4,500 years ago. But Egypt’s ancient allure has much more to offer than the heavenly heights of the Giza pyramids. One of the more legendary examples of this is the recently reopened and revamped Avenue of the Sphinxes, an archaeological wonderland in the once great city of Thebes, now known as Luxor.

• Completed around 380-362 BCE, the Avenue of the Sphinxes has gone by many names, The ‘King’s Festivities Road’ and ‘Rams Road’ among them. The avenue runs from the temples of Karnak and Luxor, at an almost 2-mile stretch. Both sides of the avenue are lined with statues depicting lions with a ram’s head, a full ram, and the commonly known sphinx of a lion with a human head. This grand road connecting two stunning and legendary temples has been dubbed the largest open-air museum in the world.

• Like many great structures around the world, as time passed it was mostly buried—until recently. Almost two-thrids of the road, and a majority of the statues, were covered in sand blown across the desert… though about a third of the avenue, leading from the Karnak, remained above ground. In 1949, Zakaria Ghinem discovered eight sphinx statues leading away from the disconnected temple, the avenue’s direction was clear. From there, the Egyptian government ordered the excavation and restoration of the Avenue of Sphinxes.

Now, decades later, a fully restored Avenue of the Sphinxes is presented in a way that could likely rival its original glory. On November 25th, the grand opening of this millenniums-old avenue was indeed a grand show of pride. It is a prime example of ancient ingenuity, the artistic style of the generations once alive, and of what humans are capable of accomplishing. A journey in Egypt is not complete without a walk on this UNESCO World Heritage site. Each end of the avenue is accentuated with a magnificent temple to explore, and plenty of handcrafted scenery along the way.