December 13, 2021
The whole world was at awe as Egypt opened the 3,000-year-old Sphinx Avenue in Luxor connecting Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple.
The avenue is flanked by sphinxes on both sides and is 1.7 miles long. A massive restoration and conservation project had to be conducted in preparation for the opening. The avenue originally contained 1,057 statues and was discovered by Egyptian archaeologist Zakaria Ghineim in 1949.
The grand event was attended by the Egyptian president Adbel-Fattah el-Sisi and the first lady and featured an orchestra, light effects, dance routines, boats sailing on the Nile, horse carriage marches, and a firework show.
The event celebrated the Opet Festival, which was the festival that marked the annual Nile flooding, brining with it the necessary water to irrigate the lands of Egypt. The Opet Festival involved priests carrying bark shrines of the Theban triad, the god Amun-Re, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu, through the Sphinx Avenue.
