A recent celebration in the Egyptian city of Luxor to mark the reopening of its restored Avenue of the Sphinxes will become an annual event, the country's tourism authority has said.
Decades-long excavations and restorations to the 3,400-year-old avenue that connects two of Luxor’s most prominent temples were completed in November, resulting in hundreds of visitors arriving at the Nile-side city to see it.
The 2.7km avenue had sustained significant damage over the years. Houses had been built over parts, burying many of its original relics – including a large number of the sphinxes that famously line the road.
After the success of a grand parade in March to relocate 22 royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to the newly opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the country’s tourism ministry is keen on highlighting the country’s other antiquities, said tourism minister Khaled El Anany.
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Fireworks explode during the opening ceremony for the restored Avenue of the Sphinxes, or Road of the Rams, a 3,000-year-old path that connects Luxor Temple with Karnak Temple, on November 25, 2021. Reuters -
After years of renovation and in a bid to reinvigorate Egypt's tourism sector, the 2,700-metre Avenue of the Sphinxes was reopened in a grand ceremony. Getty Images -
Performers dance during the official ceremony outside Luxor Temple. AFP -
The 2,700-metre Avenue of the Sphinxes is lit up for the event. Getty Images -
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attends the opening ceremony at Luxor Temple. EPA -
Journalists wait by the pylon and remaining obelisk at the entrance of the temple. AFP -
Egypt unveiled the sandstone-paved path lined with ram-headed statues and sphinxes dating back more than 3,000 years. AFP -
Thousands of actors, dancers and drummers participated in the parade. Getty Images -
Dancers take part in the performance, which featured songs composed specially for the occasion. Getty Images -
A guard stands at the restored Avenue of Sphinxes. EPA -
The grand ceremony marked the official reopening of the Avenue of Sphinxes. EPA -
A procession of hundreds of costumed performers set out from Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple. EPA -
The procession winds its way between the two temples. EPA -
The avenue has been carefully restored in a bid to reinvigorate Egypt's tourism sector. EPA -
The avenue, as well as the two temples it connects, are set to be an open-air museum after years of excavation and restoration. EPA -
The day after the parade, the entire length of the avenue and all the temples it includes opened to visitors free of charge. EPA -
Luxor Temple before the start of the parade. Getty Images -
Sphinxes sit near Luxor Temple before the celebration. Getty Images -
The entrance of the Avenue of the Sphinxes. Getty Images -
Sphinxes line the 2,700-meter avenue. Getty Images
November’s celebration was fashioned after an ancient Egyptian religious ceremony known as the Opet festival, which will now be marked with a parade each year, said the tourism ministry.
Tourism officials said this week that the date will most likely vary each year.
The next of the ministry’s planned promotional events is set to take place at the end of this month at Sinai’s famed St Catherine Monastery.
This will be followed by events at the rock-cut Abu Simbel temples in Aswan province in February. These will mark a solar alignment at the site that occurs each February and October.
“Next year is going to be a particularly significant year for antiquities in Egypt,” Bassam El Shamaa, a prominent Egyptologist, told The National.
It will mark the centenary of the discovery the tomb of Tutankhamun in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, and the 200th anniversary of translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs using the Rosetta Stone.
Egypt’s tourism, one of its economy’s most important cornerstones, was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government has been endeavouring to revamp the sector after the pandemic kept tourists away for two years.
