The Third Pylon, which now forms the rear wall of the Hypostyle Hall, was built by Amenhetep III in part from blocks taken from earlier buildings. Archaeologists removed these blocks from the pylon’s core and found that many came from a shrine of Senusret I, others from a shrine of Hatshepsut and over twelve other buildings. The Senusret I and Hatshepsut shrines have been reconstructed in the Open-Air Museum.The pylon is in poor condition.

On the rear (east) face of the right (south) tower an extensive list records tribute received by Amenhetep III from Asiatic countries, but the text is damaged and difficult to read. More interesting are scenes on the outer face of the left (north) tower.

They show Amenhetep III sailing the Nile on Amen-Ra’s huge bark during the important Opet Festival and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley. The barks fill the entire north half of the north tower’s east face; they are magnificent boats over 130 cubits (about 68 meters, 221 feet) long. Amenhetep III was so proud that he described one on a stela erected in his memorial temple on the West Bank: “I made another monument for him who begat me, Amen-Ra, lord of Thebes, who established me upon his throne, making for him a great barge for the ‘Beginning-of-the-River’ (named): Amen-Ra-in-theSacred-Barge, of new cedar which his majesty cut in the countries of God’s Land. It was dragged over the mountains of Retenu by the princes of all countries. It was made very wide and large...adorned with silver, wrought with gold throughout, the great shrine of electrum so that it fills the land with its brightness.”

Thutmes I created a small open court between the Third and Fourth Pylons. It is little more than a patch of dirt and modern paving stones today, but in antiquity it housed four massive obelisks, two each for Thutmes I and Thutmes III. Only the bases of three obelisks remain, but the fourth, for Thutmes I, still stands. It is a monolithic block of granite 22 meters (72 feet) tall, 1.8 meters (6 feet) square, and weighs over 140 tons. The obelisk was quarried near the First Cataract at Aswan and transported down the Nile on a huge barge. How such blocks were moved, and, more remarkably, how they were erected with such precision, are matters still debated by scholars. Thutmes I’s name appears on each side of the obelisk; Rameses IV added his own names later.

From" The Illustrated Guide to Luxor" by kent R.Weeks ,published by the American University in Cairo Press. Copyright © 2005 White Star S.p.a