Karnak Temple Complex

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Ancient Thebes With Its Necropolis (1979). The Largest Religious Building Ever Constructed, Worked On For Around Two Thousand Years, With A Hypostyle Hall Of 134 Columns And Hatshepsut'S Obelisk Still Standing In It · Luxor, Luxor

Karnak is the largest religious building ever constructed, and it was not designed so much as accumulated: thirty pharaohs over roughly two thousand years each added a pylon, a court, a hall or an obelisk to the precinct of Amun-Re, so the complex reads as a history of Egyptian ambition in stone. The part nobody forgets is the Great Hypostyle Hall, where a hundred and thirty-four columns stand in sixteen rows, the central twelve tall enough that the roof slabs they carried are still in place above head height, with carving and traces of paint on every surface. Hatshepsut's obelisk still stands where it was raised. There is a sacred lake, a precinct of Mut, an open-air museum of reassembled chapels, and an avenue of sphinxes running three kilometres south towards Luxor Temple. It is big enough to absorb a cruise-boat crowd and you should still come at opening, when the hall is nearly empty and the light comes in sideways.

North end of Luxor on the east bank, about 3 km from Luxor Temple along the Avenue of Sphinxes, Luxor, Luxor, Egypt

Open daily, year round, from early morning until late afternoon, with a shorter winter day and reduced Ramadan hours. The open-air museum inside the enclosure carries a separate ticket bought at the main entrance, and the precinct of Mut to the south is often closed to visitors. Whether the excavated Avenue of Sphinxes between Karnak and Luxor Temple can be walked has changed since its restoration, so confirm it rather than planning to arrive on foot that way. A sound and light show runs in the evening on most nights, ticketed separately and in rotating languages. Coach parties from the Nile cruise boats arrive in waves from mid-morning; the first hour after opening and the last hour before closing are much quieter. It is about three kilometres north of Luxor Temple, a short taxi or a horse-cab ride.

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