 Temple
of Luxor.
Beyond the southern side of the first court of Luxor Temple, the columns
of the Colonnade Hall rise in the background. The ruined portico shelters
standing figures of Ramesses II, and to the left of the central portal
is a seated colossus, worshiped in ancient times as a deified statue of
the divine king. Through this court, festal processions wended their way
to the inner sanctuaries of the temple, particularly during the annual
Festival of Opet, when the portable barks of the divine triad of Karnak
were carried south for the celebrations at Luxor. The walls of the Colonnade
Hall, now much destroyed, originally extended up to the height of the
architraves atop the fourteen massive columns. The inner thicknesses of
the doorway into the Colonnade, were originally recessed to receive the
leaves of a giant door carved from Lebanese cedar. The photograph was
taken about 1920; the huge cornice block in the center of the court and
the lower walls of later buildings to the left have been cleared away.
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