Ancient Egyptian sacred sites in Egypt

Abu Simbel Temples

Abu Simbel, Aswan, Egypt

Abu Simbel stands as Egypt's supreme statement of divine kingship carved into living rock....

Abydos

Bani Mansour, Sohag, Egypt

The Temple of Seti I at Abydos contains what many consider the finest carved reliefs in Egyptian history, created at what ancient Egyptians believed was their holiest...

Bent Pyramid

Dahshur, Giza, Egypt

The Bent Pyramid rises from the desert at Dahshur with a silhouette like no other: steep at the base, then abruptly shallower at the 47-meter mark....

Colossi of Memnon, Luxor

Al Baairat Village, Luxor, Egypt

For centuries, one of these colossal statues sang at sunrise. Greeks and Romans traveled to Egypt specifically to hear the voice, which they believed was the hero Memnon...

Edfu

Idfu City, Aswan, Egypt

The Temple of Edfu survives as the best-preserved temple in ancient Egypt, a time capsule buried for centuries and now revealed in near-complete form....

Giza Necropolis

Giza, Giza, Egypt

The Giza Necropolis is the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World. Three pyramids rise from the desert plateau—grandfather, father, grandson—each an attempt to defeat...

Great Pyramid of Giza

Inside Giza Necropolis

Giza, Giza, Egypt

The Great Pyramid rises from the Giza Plateau like a geometric mountain, its proportions so precise that modern engineers struggle to explain how 4,500-year-old technology...

Heliopolis

Qalyubia, Egypt

At ancient Heliopolis, Egyptian priests held that the first land — the Benben mound — rose from the dark primordial waters of Nun, and on it the self-created god Atum...

King's Chamber

Inside Great Pyramid of Giza

Giza, Giza, Egypt

The King's Chamber sits at the geometric center of the Great Pyramid, a granite room built 4,600 years ago to endure eternity....

Kom Ombu

Koum Ombo City, Aswan, Egypt

The Temple of Kom Ombo stands alone in Egypt as a double temple, its perfect bilateral symmetry honoring two gods who embody opposing forces: Sobek the crocodile,...

Luxor Temple, Luxor

Luxor, Luxor, Egypt

Luxor Temple has never stopped being a place of worship. The pharaohs built it for divine renewal. The Romans converted it to emperor worship....

Medinet Habu (Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III), Luxor

Al Baairat Village, Luxor, Egypt

Medinet Habu holds what other Egyptian monuments have lost. The mortuary temple of Ramesses III preserves over 7,000 square meters of wall reliefs still bearing their...

Osireion

Part of Abydos

Abydos, Sohag, Egypt

The Osireion is an underground structure behind the Temple of Seti I at Abydos, built as a symbolic tomb for Osiris....

Philae Temple, Aswan

Shash, Aswan, Egypt

Philae Temple stands where ancient Egyptian religion drew its final breath. Here the last hieroglyphic inscription was carved in 394 CE....

Pyramid of Djoser

Saqqara, Giza, Egypt

Before Giza, before the true pyramids, there was this: six limestone tiers rising from the desert at Saqqara, humanity's first monumental stone building....

Pyramid of Khafre

Giza, Giza, Egypt

The Pyramid of Khafre appears to be the tallest at Giza, though it is not. Built on bedrock ten meters higher than his father Khufu's monument, Khafre's pyramid creates an...

Pyramid of Menkaure

Giza, Giza, Egypt

The Pyramid of Menkaure completes what three generations of pyramid builders began at Giza....

Red Pyramid

Dahshur, Giza, Egypt

The Red Pyramid stands as proof of mastery achieved. After the collapsed pyramid at Meidum and the necessary angle change at the Bent Pyramid, Sneferu's engineers finally...

Serabit el-Khadim

South Sinai, Egypt

High on a sandstone plateau in the Sinai desert stands the only temple to Hathor ever built outside mainland Egypt....

Serapeum of Saqqara

Abu Sir, Giza, Egypt

Descend into the earth at Saqqara and enter the burial halls of the Apis bulls—living gods who walked the streets of Memphis as incarnations of Ptah the creator....

Sun Temple of Niuserre, Abu Girab

Abu Sir, Giza, Egypt

The Sun Temple of Niuserre at Abu Ghurob is one of only two surviving Fifth Dynasty sun temples, out of at least six that once existed....

Temple of Amun (Amon Temple), Siwa Oasis

أغورمي, Matruh, Egypt

Deep in the Western Desert, an oracle once spoke from this remote oasis temple. Pilgrims crossed hundreds of miles of lethal terrain to hear the god's pronouncements....

Temple of Hathor, Dendera

Dendera, Qena, Egypt

The Temple of Hathor at Dendera survives as the most complete ancient Egyptian temple, its painted ceilings and carved columns largely intact after two thousand years....

Temple of Hatshepsut

Luxor, Luxor, Egypt

Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh in a world that reserved that title for men....

Temple of Karnak

Old Karnak, Luxor, Egypt

Karnak Temple Complex covers 247 acres of accumulated sacred architecture—the work of approximately thirty pharaohs over two millennia....

Temple of Khnum, Esna

Esna, Luxor, Egypt

The Temple of Khnum sits in an excavation pit nine meters below modern Esna, a literal descent through millennia of accumulated civilization....

Temple of Ptah

Part of Temple of Karnak

Luxor, Luxor, Egypt

Hidden in Karnak's northern corner, the Temple of Ptah offers what the vast complex cannot: intimate encounter....

The Great Sphinx

Part of Giza Necropolis

Giza, Giza, Egypt

At the edge of the Western Desert, where the living world meets the vast necropolis of ancient kings, a limestone creature emerges from the bedrock itself....

Valley Temple of Khafre

Part of Giza Necropolis

Giza, Giza, Egypt

The Valley Temple of Khafre is Egypt's best-preserved Old Kingdom temple, where priests once transformed the dead pharaoh into a divine being....