Vallée des Rois & Temple d'Hatchepsout

The Valley of the Kings, on the Nile's west bank opposite Luxor, served as the main royal burial ground for pharaohs of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties, roughly 1539 to 1075 BC. More than 60 tombs have been identified, including that of Tutankhamun, and the site has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed 'Ancient Thebes' since 1979.

The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, on the Nile's west bank near Luxor, was built around 1479-1458 BC by her chief architect Senenmut. Known as Djeser-Djeseru, it rises in three colonnaded terraces cut into the cliffs, a design distinct from other Egyptian temples, and was dedicated to the sun god Amun-Ra alongside Hatshepsut's own funerary cult.

The Colossi of Memnon are two 18-metre-tall quartzite statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, erected around 1350 BC to guard the entrance of his now-ruined mortuary temple on Luxor's west bank. Carved from stone quarried near modern Cairo and hauled some 675 km to Thebes, they were famously said by ancient Greek visitors to sing at dawn.

Peu de sites en Égypte permettent de pénétrer directement dans des chambres funéraires peintes vieilles de 3 000 ans.

La conception en terrasses d'Hatchepsout, intégrée aux falaises, est unique parmi les monuments pharaoniques.