Avenue of the Sphinxes

The Avenue of Sphinxes, also known as The King’s Festivities Road or Rams Road, is a 2.7 km (1.7 mi) path that connects Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple with sphinxes and ram-headed statues lining both flanks.

Construction on the Avenue of Sphinxes began in the New Kingdom era and was completed in the Late Period during the reign of 30th Dynasty monarch Nectanebo I (380-362 B.C.); over the ages, the road became buried and hidden under layers of sand.

According to the book Description de l’Égypte published in 1809, the Avenue of Sphinxes was 2,000 meters long with over 600 sphinxes.

In 1893, French Egyptologist Georges Daressy claimed that the Avenue was buried and could not be excavated since it extended below groundwater level.

The initial traces of the avenue we see today were discovered in 1949 by Egyptian archaeologist Mohammed Zakaria Ghoneim, who unearthed eight statues near the Luxor Temple, followed by the discovery of 17 more statues between 1958 and 1961 and 55 more found between 1961 and 1964, all within a 250-metre perimeter.

Between 1984 and 2000, the whole course of the walkway was ultimately defined, leaving excavators to unearth the road.

The avenue was reopened to the public on November 25th, 2021, after more than seven decades of rehabilitation work. With a team from the German University in Cairo establishing the vision for the event, the celebratory opening featured pharaonic costumes, a symphony orchestra, lighting effects, professional dancers, boats on the Nile and horse-drawn carriages, with even Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attending the citywide event.

By the time of the 2021 opening, the avenue was lined with a total of 1057 statues, including 807 traditional sphinxes and 250 with ram-shaped heads, the ram being associated with the god Amun.