Luxor/Thebes
The ancient Egyptian name for the area, which is comprised of Luxor and Karnak, on the east bank of the Nile, the Valley of the Kings and the mortuary temples, which are located on the west bank. More than 80 percent of Egyptian artifacts are in the Thebes area and you should plan your visit accordingly. Many festivals were celebrated in Thebes. The Temple of Luxor was the center of the most important one, the festival of Opet.

The Temple of Luxor was built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II. It appears that the temple's purpose was a suitable setting for the rituals of the festival. The festival itself was to reconcile the human aspect of the ruler with the divine office.
The temple of Ramesses III- The entire Temple of Ramesses III, palace and town is enclosed within a defensive wall. Entry is through the Highgate, or Migdol, which resembles an Asiatic fort. Just inside the Highgate, to the south, are the chapels of Amenirdis I, Shepenwepet II and Nitoket, wives of the god Amun. To the north side is the chapel of Amun. These chapels were a later addition dating to the 18th Dynasties, by Hatshepsut and Tutmose II. Later renovations were made by the Ptolemaic kings of the XXV Dynasty.
The valley of kings
In the midst of the desert you will find one of the most famous sites of ancient Egypt. Walking down the steps of the tombs you enter the world of the dead. The Egyptian belief that "to speak the name of the dead is to make him live again" is certainly carried out in the building of the tombs. The king's formal names and titles are all inscribed in his tomb along with his images and statues. Beginning with the 18th Dynasty and ending with the 20th, the kings abandoned the Memphis area and built their tombs in Thebes. Also abandoned were the pyramid style tombs. Most of the tombs were cut into the limestone following a similar pattern: three corridors, an antechamber and a sunken sarcophagus chamber. These catacombs were harder to rob and were more easily concealed. Construction usually lasted six years, beginning with the new reign. The texts in the tombs are from the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Gates and the Book of the Underworld.
Memnon Colossi
In Thebes Amenhotep III (18th Dyn) built a mortuary temple that was guarded by two gigantic statues at the outer gates. All that remains now are the 19.5m statues of Amenhotep. Though damaged by nature and tourists throughout the ages, the statues are still impressive. Long after Amenhotep the Greeks decided that the statue represented their hero, Memnon, son of Tithonus, and Eos, who fought in defense of Troy and was slain by Achilles. The statues, of Amenhotep's mother Mutemuia and Queen Tiy, were shattered by an earthquake. The fallen remains produced a musical sound under certain weather conditions. The Egyptians thought that this music came directly from the gods. To be granted a song meant that you were very much in the favor of the gods. Visitors came from miles around to hear the music, including Emperor Hadrian, in 130 A.D. The music stopped in 199 AD when the statue was repaired.
The Temple of Deir el Bahari
The mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is one of the most dramatically situated in the world. The queen's architect, Senenmut, designed it and set it at the head of a valley overshadowed by the Peak of the Thebes, the "Lover of Silence," where lived the goddess who presided over the necropolis. A tree lined avenue of sphinxes led up to the temple, with ramps leading from terrace to terrace. The porticoes on the lowest terrace are out of proportion and coloring with the rest of the building. They were restored in 1906 to protect the celebrated reliefs depicting the transport of obelisks by barge to Karnak and the miraculous birth of Queen Hatshepsut.

Reliefs on the south side of the middle terrace show the queen's expedition by way of the Red Sea to Punt, the land of incense. Along the front of the upper terrace, a line of large, gently smiling Osirid statues of the queen looked out over the valley. In the shade of the colonnade behind, brightly painted reliefs decorated the walls. Throughout the temple, statues and sphinxes of the queen proliferated. Many of them have been reconstructed, with patience and ingenuity, from the thousands of smashed fragments found by the excavators, some are now in the Cairo Museum, and others at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Temple of Karnak
Like a dwarf you walk between the giant pillars of the temples of Karnak. The Temple of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples and several outer temples. This vast complex was built and enlarged over a thirteen hundred year period. The three main temples of Mut, Monthu and Amun are enclosed by enormous brick walls. The Open Air Museum is located to the north of the first courtyard across from the Sacred Lake. The main complex, The Temple of Amun, is situated in the center of the entire complex. The Temple of Monthu is to the north of the Temple of Amun, while the Temple of Mut is to the south.