Set beside the Nile and surrounded by the modern town, Luxor Temple is one of the most beguiling of all Egypt’s pharaonic monuments. Compact and simple in plan, it can be visited in an hour, but the wealth of reliefs and serenity of the site make it worth spending far longer. To catch it at its most atmospheric, visit at night when dramatic lighting brings the place to life.

Just as the temple today lies at the centre of the modern town of Luxor, in pharaonic times it sat at the heart of the capital of Thebes. Built on the site of earlier places of worship, it was raised by Amenhotep III, the eighteenth dynasty sun king, whose lengthy reign represented the zenith of ancient Egypt’s power and prestige.

Luxor Temple owes its excellent state of preservation to two factors: it was covered by sand, and the village of Luxor was built on top of it. Vacationing French writer Gustave Flaubert, visiting in 1850, described houses built among the capitals and chickens and pigeons nesting in the great stone lotus leaves.