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THE BUZZ | TRAVEL NEWS<br />
22 | TRAVELLER<br />
VIEWING NOTES<br />
NO. 1<br />
What’s going on?<br />
An open-air museum containing<br />
650 Egyptian sphinxes has been<br />
unveiled in Luxor. The leonine<br />
monuments face each other along<br />
a 2.7km-long parade built by the<br />
dynasty king Nectanebo I as a place<br />
for religious worship.<br />
Since when?<br />
Well, it’s been here for years (over<br />
3,000 to be more specifi c), but<br />
after being gradually covered by<br />
silt and built over, it has now been<br />
excavated and is open to the public.<br />
Who cares?<br />
Indiana Jones types, like<br />
archaeologists, Egyptologists – and<br />
anyone fascinated by the pharaohs.<br />
Does it do anything else?<br />
Yes. The avenue connects two<br />
UNESCO World Heritage temples<br />
– Luxor and Karnak. There are<br />
also the remains of a Roman wine<br />
factory along the route.<br />
THE MUST SEE<br />
AVENUE<br />
OF THE<br />
SPHINXES<br />
LUXOR<br />
When can you go?<br />
It’s open all year round.<br />
What to do<br />
Soak up the history and try to spot<br />
the six chapels built by Queen<br />
Hatshepsut along the route, circa<br />
1500BC, and not yet unearthed.<br />
What not to do<br />
Put anything in your pocket. These<br />
relics are pretty valuable: excavation<br />
cost the Egyptian government EGP<br />
60 million (€7 million).<br />
WORDS BY AMY DENNIS | PHOTO © GETTY IMAGES
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