Photos taken by Anas Fathallah showing the final preparations and rehearsals underway in anticipation for Thursday’s event of the reopening of the Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor
Luxor is gearing up to host a glamorous ceremony to reopen the 2,700-metre-long ancient walkway that links the Ancient Egyptian temples of Luxor and Karnak on Thursday, 25 November.
The reopening of the Avenue of Sphinxes comes as the country prepares Luxor to be one of the world’s largest open-air museums.
Egyptian and international teams of conservators and archaeologists have restored hundreds of ram-head and sphinx statues that have lined the avenue since it was first built during the reign of the 13th-Dynasty Pharaoh Nectanebo I.
The reopening ceremony is expected to be a re-enactment of the Ancient Egyptian Opet Festival, which was celebrated in Luxor when the region was known as Thebes.
Authorities also carried out major restoration work on the road and the temples of Karnak and Luxor in recent months.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has invited foreign ambassadors and dignitaries in Egypt and a number of public figures to attend the ceremony.
All photos by Anas Fathallah and exclusively obtained by Ahram Online showing the final preparations and rehearsals for the Thursday reopening.
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