Luxor Temple - Abu al-Haggag Mosque

Village and Mosque Built Over Abandoned Site of Luxor Temple

The Luxor Temple lay covered with sand and silt for centuries. The Romans built a village on the site in the 3rd century, using the temple walls as its boundaries. Over the years, the village grew into a town and the Luxor Temple was almost forgotten. When the archaeologist Gaston Maspero re-discovered the temple in 1881, it lay under a village. The village built on the site of the Luxor Temple was moved, but the 14th century Abu al-Haggag Mosque was left intact. It looks a little odd to see a mosque in the midst of this magnificent pharaonic temple, but the mosque serves as a reminder of how things change over the centuries.