Large statue of a baboon at the entrance to the Karnak temple in Luxor

This is a large statue at the entrance to the front pylon of the Karnak temple in Luxor. However, for some reason, I am not able to differentiate between a baboon and a sphinx, especially when the photo shows a statue that is somewhat worn down because of wear and tear. The noteworthy item is that these statues were built over 35 centuries back, and have remained in an identifiable state for all these years.

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People walking through the front pylon of the Karnak temple at Luxor

The sheer size of the Karnak temple at Luxor is incredible, which is not hard to understand, given that multiple pharaohs were involved in the quest to build the temple over a period of time. After the 34 centuries or so, there is a large amount of wear and tear, but repair and reconstruction over the past several decades has made the temple as one of the most visited monuments in Egypt, given its prime location in the city of Luxor.
In this photo, you can see tourists walking through the front entrance of the temple, and there are a large number of tourists as you can see.

Wide view of the front side of the Karnak Temple at Luxor

A view that gives a view of the section of the Karnak Temple compound that lies between the front and the parking space in front. It is a fairly big place, you can see large open spaces and some amount of trees in the area. And of course, you can see tourists coming to the temple, crossing a small bridge. There is a huge amount of open space in front of the temple, and in the distance, you can also see some hills (and you would not normally think of the desert area of Egypt as having any hills).

Palm Trees in a row in front of the Karnak temple in Luxor

The space in front of the Karnak temple is pretty large, with people having to walk a few minutes from the parking area to the actual start of the temple. In this photo, you get a brief view of the large space, in terms of the space between the palm trees in a row in front of the temple. In front of one tree, you can see a bored policeman on a chair, and since there have been no terrorist incidents for many years, things are much safer for tourists and the reputation of Egypt as a tourist friendly place had increased.

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View of hills in the distance along with the path in front of the Karnak temple in Luxor

The area in front of the Karnak temple is pretty large. Tourists can come to the parking and from there need to walk to the actual temple, and it is not a short distance (this is the space that you can see in the current photo). In the distance, you can see some hills (and remember, there are hills near Luxor, what with the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens being actual limestone cliffs).

Broken section between pillars inside the Hypostyle Hall in the Karnak temple

The lighting in this photo is not very good, but you should be able to clearly make out the piece of broken rubble lying between the pillars, with the carving on the broken section being very clear as well. For monuments that are as old as the Karnak temple at Luxor, there will be wear and tear and damage.

Large pillars along with the architrave on top inside the Hypostyle Hall in the Karnak temple

The Hypostyle Hall inside the Karnak temple in Luxor, Egypt is an incredible place. There is this huge place, once fully covered, actually a hall covering an area of 50,000 square feet. Inside the Hypostyle Hall, there are huge pillars (with a total of 134 pillars) that held up the entire structure, with each pillar being wonderfully carved. The temple itself was built up over a period of time, with multiple pharaohs contributing to the construction.