Day tours from Luxor to Abydos and Denderah temples
December 28th, 2009
A few hours by car from Luxor there are two beautiful temples, still having original painting colours and still not affected by mass tourism. After a three hours drive from Luxor, I reach the Abydos temple, before continuing, on the way back to Luxor, to Denderah temple.
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The Abydos temple is locaded about three hours by car from Luxor. The road crosses the rural parts of Egypt, places normally not seen by the tourists staying into five stars resort on Red Sea or near the temples in Luxor. |
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The Abydos temple was started by king Seti I (1313 - 1292 a.c.) and finished by his son Ramesses II during the XVIII dynasty. The temple is dedicated to God Osiris. In the relif on the above picture, there is a representation of Ramesses II killing enemies from Asia. |
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| This should be the tomb of God Osiris, where his head is buried. |
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| Pictures of Abydos temple, with the beautiful columns and paintings outside the temple. |
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| The first atrium of Abydos temple, which is the more recent part built by Ramesses II. |
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This stone has an Egyptian hieroglyphs text written by Ramesses II, containing a description of his life, what he did and the enemies killed by him. |
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Abydos temple pictures. The innermost part was built by king Seti I and it contains six sanctuaries (left picture), each one dedicated to a particular God or Goddess. Five sanctuaries are smaller and made by just a single room (right picture), while one sanctuary, dedicated to Osiris God, is much more complex and made by several rooms (pictures below). |
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More Abydos pictures. Beside each door granting the access to a sanctuary, there is a wall with beautiful paintings. |
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The sanctuary dedicated to Osiris God is much bigger and is made by several rooms connected by an atrium with columns. |
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About half way back to Luxor, I stop to Denderah temple, originally built by ancient Egyptians by modified later by Greeks and Romans during their dominations of Egypt. The Denderah temple is dedicated to Goddess Cow. |
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The fantastic columns representing Goddess Cow. The colours are still excellent and the paintings very beautiful to see. |
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Pictures of Denderah temple: the roof has beautiful blue colours and relifs. |
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More Denderah temple pictures. Inside the temples there are many halls, corridors and smaller rooms, making it like a labyrinth. |
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| The chapel of Goddess Cow. |
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More Denderah pictures, showing the relifs and paintings still in excellent conservation state. |
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