The temples of Karnak, open-air museums

First of all, if you're not already familiar with the area, make sure you get dropped off at the right place, as the Karnak complex is in Luxor, so it's easy to get dropped off at Luxor temple, especially as there are no signs once you're there.

We advise you to arrive as early as possible, as you know that visits are more enjoyable when there are few, if any, crowds posing in front of all the statues. Your resistance to the heat will also help, as even if you are travelling in winter, it could be over 40°C by midday and the visit to this 2 km² site will be long. Entrance to the Karnak temples opens at 6am. It may seem early, but this early start is designed for your comfort. However, it closes at 5pm.

Armed with a good guide who will help you get to know all the deities, the scenes carved into the stone walls, the countless hieroglyphs and columns and the temples, but also equipped with good walking shoes, sunglasses and, above all, cold water in a sealed bottle, you can enter the enclosure.

First of all, you should know that the complex consists of an enclosure with a very large circumference, made of ancestral mud bricks. But you will arrive via the dromos, the aisle of ram-headed sphinxes, which will give you access to the 1st pylon, the huge trapezoidal wall that frames the entrance. Parallel to it, behind the dromos, in times immemorial, a canal came from the Nile to bring the bark of Amun. This was the landing stage. Time has done its work and transformed everything!

Once you have passed through the gate of the 1st pylon, you will be in the Temple of Amun, the central part of the complex, representing around 1/7 of the whole. At the other end of the 8,000 m2 Great Court, the largest of all the temples in Egypt, you will see the two colossi of Ramses II, close to the 2nd pylon.

You will then notice that sphinxes lie parallel to it, the same sphinxes that are lined up in the dromos. These are the remains of an even longer sphinx alley than the one visited outside, which originally led to the Hypostyle Hall, before the two pylons were erected. This alley went even further, all the way to Luxor Temple.

For your visit to make any sense, you need to bear in mind that what you'll see is very incomplete, and has been much altered over time by successive reigns. This second pylon is very dilapidated, with three-quarters of it missing.

The most sacred site in Ancient Egypt and probably the most grandiose religious complex in antiquity, Karnak still contains three main enclosures dedicated to the "Theban Triad", the three gods worshipped in Thebes (now Luxor), then the capital of Egypt: Amun (the Unknowable) is the husband of Mut (the Mother) and the father of Khonsu (the Traveller). There are many other temples and buildings on the site.

Excavations and discoveries continue at Karnak! The enclosure of Amun-Ra, which can be visited, is mainly famous for the hypostyle hall of the temple of Amun, made up of one hundred and thirty-four columns, most of which have retained their decoration. It is a simply incomparable place, marked by the transformations of Ramses II and Ramses III.

Also, the place as you will see it has nothing in common with the multiple paintings that adorned the walls and colonnades everywhere. The hieroglyphic cartouches and scenes carved into the stone were all painted in often bright colours or covered in precious metals. There are very few intact relics that give a true picture of these scenes... with the obvious exception of Tutankhamen's formidable mask, kept in the Cairo Museum. Lapi-lazuli, gold, silver, electrum, obsidian...

Once past the Great Court, you arrive at the architectural masterpiece that is the Hypostyle Hall and its 134 columns. You'll see it in the open air, but for centuries the hall was of course covered by a ceiling.

Perhaps then you will realise that the colonnade (double row of main columns), which is perfectly in line with the dromos (aisle of ram-headed sphynxes), forms a straight line running from east to west. In other words, a passageway for the light of sunrise and sunset. Of course it is! You are in the abode of the God Ra, in other words, the Sun.

The 143 columns of this hall form a labyrinth where you can't get lost. Hieroglyphics and liturgical scenes are everywhere. It's best to know what the cartouches and other engravings are saying, so as not to miss out on all the Egyptian mythology told by these immense columns. Unless you have hired a guide, which is advisable.

Continuing your tour will take you through the 3rd pylon. You will then be in the centre of the Temple of Amun, facing the sun, if it is morning. On your right, the obelisk of Thutmose I, and then to the right again, a succession of 4 large chambers interspersed with pylons 7, 8 and 9 facing the Nile, which you will not be able to visit. Turning your steps towards the sun, you arrive at the foot ofQueen Hatshepsut's obelisk, the largest in Egypt.

Once past the pylon, the gigantic temple that unfolds before your eyes along the way is a veritable labyrinth, and we strongly advise you to bring a map with you. After the vestibule, the central part is the resting place for the portable bark of the god Amun-Ra. Behind it, a number of smaller rooms are worth a look: the decorated room of the Akh Menu, the sanctuary of Amen the Generator, the botanical garden, the successive chapels of Amen, Ma'at and the Ennead, and the festival room of the Akh Menu. And much more.