Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple sits right in the modern city's heart, a grand riverside sanctuary that once anchored ancient Thebes and was linked to Karnak, three kilometres north, by a ceremonial avenue lined with hundreds of sphinxes, now largely re-excavated. Built and expanded by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II, it was less a temple to a god than a stage for the rejuvenation of kingship itself.

A towering pylon fronted by a lone pink-granite obelisk (its twin stands in Paris) leads into a forest of columns, colossal seated statues and a serene inner sanctuary. Layers of history overlap here, a Roman shrine, a still-active mosque built into the ruins. See it by day for the carvings, then return after dark, when floodlights turn the whole temple gold and the crowds thin.