Egypt unveils Thursday a sacred route lined with thousands statues that was once used to transport the gods along a procession route 3000 years ago.
The Avenue of Sphinxes (1.7 mile stretch) is named after the more than 150 statues of Sphinxes. This stretch connects Luxor and the Temples of Karnak north to south.
The glittery ceremony will begin at 12:30pm. A livestream begins an hour before.
The pathway, paved in sandstone blocks, was used every year for a festival called ‘Opet’ that was held the second month of the Nile flooding seasons.
Priests carried three divine boats on their shoulders, transporting statues of the Theban Triad — the deities of Amun-Re, his consort Mut and their son Khonsu from one end to the other.
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Egypt will unveil a sacred roadway lined with thousands upon thousands of statues this Thursday. This route was originally used for a parade route by the gods over 3,000 years.
It was used later by Romans, and the road is believed to be renovated by Cleopatra. This legendary Ptolemaic Queen left her cartouche (an inscribed hieroglyphic bearing the name of her) at Luxor’s temple.
With the passage of time, this tradition started to fade and was eventually abandoned.
It was not until 1949 did humans again feast their eyes on the sphinx statues – eight were discovered by Egyptian archaeologist Dr Zakaria Ghoneim, ABC News reports.
Between 1958 and 1961, 17 additional statues were discovered. 55 others followed from 1961 through 1964.
The Avenue of Sphinxes (1.7 mile stretch) is named after the more than 150 statues of Sphinxes. This connects Luxor and the Temples of Karnak north to south.
The glamorous ceremony kicks off at 12:30pm. Livestreaming will start an hour prior.
From 1984 to 2000 the entire walkway was recognized, leading to extensive excavations.
To restore the Avenue of the Sphinxes, hundreds of houses, mosques, and a 115 year-old Evangelical Church had to be destroyed.
Most of the original statues have been recovered and are depicted in three different shapes, with the first being a body of a lion with a ram’s head that was constructed over a nearly 1,000-foot area between the Karnak Temple and the Precinct of Mut during the reign of New Kingdom ruler Tutankhamen, who ruled about 3,300 years ago.
The second is a full ram statue erected in a remote area during the reign of the 18th dynasty’s Amenhotep III, from 1391-1353 BC, before being later moved to the Temple of Khonsu in the Karnak complex.
Priests carried three divine boats on their shoulders, transporting statues of the Theban Triad — the deities of Amun-Re, his consort Mut and their son Khonsu from one end to the other. The site of ancient Egyptian Temples of Luxor is seen in the photograph.
The pathway, paved in sandstone blocks, was used every year for a festival called ‘Opet’ that was held the second month of the Nile flooding seasons
Thursday’s celebration was sparked by the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade on April 3 (pictured) that a procession of 22 ancient tombs make a 40-mile journey through the streets of Cairo. Fourteen queens and 18 kings were all transported from the capital to a new museum. They are all older than 3,000 years.
It third shape is the iconic sphinx that were constructed during the reign of Nectanebo I (380–362 BC).
Thursday’s celebration was sparked by the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade on April 3 that a procession of 22 ancient tombs make a 40-mile journey through the streets of Cairo.
An 18-king and 4-queen total, who were all more than 3000 years old, were taken to a new museum located in the south of the capital.
Every mummy was put inside a golden carriage with the name of the monarch on it.
Shock absorbers were used to protect the archaeological remains during the journey.
This ceremony spanned the Nile Corniche and took place at the Egyptian Museum, Tahrir Square, to the recently opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (Fustat).