Two seated stone giants, alone in a field on Luxor’s West Bank, are all that remain standing of what was once the largest temple complex in Egypt — larger, in its day, than Karnak itself.
Each statue depicts Amenhotep III seated, hands on his knees, gazing east toward the sunrise, carved from single blocks of quartzite roughly 3,400 years ago and standing about 18 meters tall. Smaller figures of his mother and wife are carved into the sides of the thrones.
The mortuary temple they once guarded was devastated by an earthquake around 1200 BCE, leaving only the two colossi standing amid what is now farmland — archaeological work continues to uncover more of the original temple footprint beneath the surrounding fields.
A Roman-era earthquake reportedly caused one statue to ‘sing’ every dawn — a phenomenon so famous that ancient tourists traveled specifically to hear it.
After an earthquake cracked the northern colossus in 27 BCE, it reportedly emitted a strange sound each morning at dawn — ancient Greek and Roman visitors traveled specifically to witness this, leaving over 100 inscriptions on the statue recording their visits. The sound stopped after a later repair, but the graffiti remains, some of the oldest tourist inscriptions in the world.
Early morning is ideal — the site has zero shade, and it’s often the first stop on a West Bank itinerary since it sits right along the main road to the Valley of the Kings.
A quick stop rather than a lengthy visit, typically combined with Hatshepsut’s Temple and the Valley of the Kings on the same West Bank morning. No ticket is required — the statues are visible directly from the roadside.
