Photo courtesy of NBC News.
Egypt revealed the Avenue of Sphinxes on Nov. 25, an ancient 3000-year-old road that had been hidden under sand for centuries. A parade ceremony for the Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor was held along the road, connecting the Karnak temple to the Luxor temple.
The spectacular ceremony included fireworks, lighting effects, a symphony orchestra, dancers, boats on the Nile and horse-drawn carriages in a parade that marched down the nearly 2-mile long road. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was
in attendance for the historic event.The Avenue of Sphinxes is also referred to as the Path of the Gods and the Way of the Rams. The restored road is lined with 600 sphinxes and ram statues on pedestals near the Nile River in Luxor. The Avenue of Sphinxes had been under a 50-year-long excavation. It was discovered by Zakaria Ghineim, an Egyptian archaeologist, in 1949. A statue with a human head on a lion’s body also lines the ancient road.
Luxor used to be known as the ancient city of Thebes, and historians believe the Avenue of Sphinxes was built to celebrate the Opet Festival. The festival was held every year in Thebes to encourage fertility. The Opet festival was a tradition where people would march while carrying a ceremonial god statue from the Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple.
Egypt’s tourism Twitter account posted a few pictures of the event with a caption.
“DAZZLING THE WHOLE WORLD AS USUAL Luxor celebrated with an iconic grand parade! A team of archeologists restored the Sphinx Avenue, an ancient walkway that links the historic temples of Luxor and Karnak.”
The road’s oldest ruins were built by Egypt’s Queen Hatshepsut before 1400 B.C. Hieroglyphics indicate that the Opet festival was marked by dancers in parades to celebrate the annual flooding of the Nile. The hieroglyphics also showed sacred boats on the way to the temple.
In April, Egypt had a minor event when a procession accompanied the transfer of famous mummies from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum to another museum.