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so we are today at the Temple of Karnak it's a place that I've wanted to visit since I was a
child so it's really cool to be here and you'll see us soon walking through the columns seeing
all of the smaller temples that's part of this complex it's amazing it really is this is 1500 BC
so 1500 before Christ and this place is a massive there's intricate carvings and hieroglyphics
everywhere but it's really impressive at the size and scale of what they were able to do
we are bringing you both a real and an interactive virtual tour of Egypt we're
going to show you how to use Google Earth to plan your visit to Karnak
and Luxor temples or just use the tools to see them from the comfort of your own home
after the video go to the video description and click on the Google Earth Project link which Auto
navigates you through the corridors and Courtyards of Karnak and Luxor
we will mirror the journey in the video as we took it when we were there and along the way we
will also tell you about the magic of these places and the religious rituals that took place within these walls
in addition we point you to the digital Karnak project which uses 3D digital
renderings to reproduce What Karnak looked like long ago before it fell into ruins
here we see how Karnak progressively developed over 2 000 years go to their website to download
these images for your classroom or just for your own personal enjoyment
the Karnak Temple is located in Luxor Egypt and
is considered one of the largest religious complexes in the world
as we approach the temple along the Avenue of sphinxes we notice the impressive size
and Grandeur of the complex the temple is made up of a series of temples chapels and
gateways otherwise known as pylons that were built by various pharaohs throughout history
the temple complex is dedicated to the god Amun the patron god of the city as well as his wife
Mut and their son Khonsu next we visited the hypostyle Hall which is known for its
impressive columns the hall is filled with 134 columns each over 70 feet tall and adorned with
intricate carvings and hieroglyphics okay so one of the things I was most looking forward to in
Karnak Temple was walking through these massive columns when I was about 10 years old so there was
a television show called Battlestar Galactic I'm sure many of you know know it and in the opening
credits the stars of the show would walk through these columns and it just fascinated me
and made me so excited to learn about this place and what it's like and now today I get to walk
through these columns so it's really exciting The Columns are arranged in rows and represent the
plants and trees of the Nile Valley symbolizing the abundance and fertility of the land [Music]
as we continued our tour we visited the obelisk of pharaoh Tuthmosis the first as well as the Obelisk
of the queen who became king named Hatshepsut each adorned with the descriptions detailing
the pharaoh's victories and conquests foreign was seeing the Scarab statue which represents
the ancient Egyptian god Khepri the Scarab was seen as a symbol of rebirth and renewal and
this particular Scarab statue was the focus of an interesting magical ritual this is the scarab
beetle which the Egyptians associated with the sun and there is a Superstition that says if you make
a wish and that you circle around this scarab beetle three times and then touch it your wish
will come true so our director actually told us we may have to do it seven times but I think we're
gonna stick with three and we're gonna touch and I'm not gonna tell you what he told us to wish for
because it involves not getting sick on the ship so I'm gonna wish for peace and happiness for the
world and an amazing opportunity for everybody to come have this experience that we've had in
Egypt and I think I'm coming around to number three now so I'm going to touch it and roll
[Music] next we saw the sacred Lake this was so fascinating the sacred
lake is huge and is lined with stone and has stairways descending into the water
the lake was home to the sacred geese of a moon and was a symbol of the Primeval
Waters from which all life arose in the ancient Egyptians idea of creation
foreign the main Temple we made our way to the smaller but no less impressive Khonsu Temple
this Temple was dedicated to the God Khonsu who is the god of the Moon time and fertility
you may remember konshu from the Disney plus Marvel television
show called Moon Knight they adapted the superhero from this actual Egyptian god
all right so this was a very cool experience so we're at the Karnak Temple of course and uh
I was asking about the Temple of Khonsu because I really wanted to see that and we were talking
to some guards and they were like I I don't know what this means but they put their hands
over their mouths and they're like follow us and so they took us around to the work area because
right now they're doing restoration on it so this is a closed area so yes closed area you're not
supposed to be here but they're letting a few people in and they took us through and it was
worth it so you'll see the video the temple is gorgeous like it needs to be open right now and
they even took us into this special room where it had some hieroglyphics on the walls but these were
the they were so perfect like they were so cold colorful and huge yeah and they were in amazing
conditions and now he had to lead us like way back into lockdown areas it was a little scary it was a
little sketchy it's a little sketchy but this is a once in a lifetime experience and so worth it and
of course they're asking you know take care of the family so we have to give them tips they weren't
happy with Never Enough It's never enough so know that when you come to visit yeah always give them
about half of what you are going to intend to give them and then give them a little more and then say
no more and that's not what you give them uh they'll always want yeah key tip when coming
to Egypt you have to bring a lot of American single dollar bills you give a dollar that's
usually pretty good just bring a whole stack of them it'll go a long way for you we are our tour
guide was exchanging fifty a hundred dollars uh per couple and hundred and one dollar bills so it
was literally you were tipping all day long and it goes a long way and it's of course custom and it
goes to people that need it so uh definitely good advice yeah so come to Egypt come to Karnak Temple
and see if you can get into the concert Temple yes and bring dollars and bring down a bit [Music]
in his Temple it was fascinating to see the intricate carvings and paintings
depicting the various stories and myths surrounding this deity
foreign the magical rituals performed at Karnak Temple were an important part of the ancient
Egyptian religion and culture they allowed the people to connect with the gods and seek their
guidance and protection for example we learned about the Opet Festival which was once held at
these temples this ancient Festival was a time of great celebration and feasting as part of the
festivities a grand procession was held between the two great temples of Karnak and Luxor Temple
why did a moon need to leave his home in Karnak simply put the God was exhausted after a year of
managing the cosmos and needed a recharge this was tied to the flooding of the Nile River that gave
life as well but also needed a recharge in order to bring Life Anew the following year as the sun
began to set the people would start to make their way from Karnak to the Temple of Luxor which was
located just a few miles down the road they would follow the Avenue of sphinxes [Applause]
eventually the procession reached the Temple of Luxor where the statues of a moon and mutt were
placed on a special altar here the people would continue to offer prayers and offerings to the
Gods we visited the Temple of Luxor at night and it took on a special magical atmosphere [Music]
we're here at Luxor Temple and what's cool is we're here at night it's beautiful and obviously
a wholly different experience than it would be during the day so it's all lit up it's about six
o'clock in the evening and we're on a tour and we're looking forward to seeing what this thing
looks like of course this is the um the big Temple here right on the Nile River in Luxor
we spent time viewing all the wall carvings and learning about the history of the place
this is a really interesting part of the Luxor Temple we're actually in a very holy area this
is the holy of holy areas and we're in the same space but literally across from each other on this
side you have hieroglyphics from historic Egyptian times like 1500 BC and you can see the detail on
the stories here and right across here you can see some that are hundreds of years later that
reflect the story of Alexander the Great so you can think about how much time that was Alexander
the Great knew that the only way he could control the Egyptians was through religion and that's what
he did and you can actually see hieroglyphics here that represent Alexander the Great as an
Egyptian god and it's really interesting to see and hear the stories about how he manipulated
things and that wound up on these walls literally 12 feet apart the Karnak and Luxor temples are
truly breathtaking and awe-inspiring places and we hope you've enjoyed this tour with us
watch this video to see what's next on our adventures and check out our
customizable merchandise store see you soon