Luxor`s `Sphinx Avenue` reopens after years of excavations and restorations

A ceremony to celebrate the completion of renovation work of an ancient road lined with hundreds of statues of sphinxes and rams in Luxor, southern Egypt, was held on Thursday. The promenade dates back more than 3,000 years and is known as the “Avenue of the Sphinxes,” or the “Road of the Rams.” The roughly three-kilometer road links the Karnak and Luxor temples. The road has undergone several excavation and restoration efforts over the decades. A crowd of several hundred people, including President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and other dignitaries, attended the ceremony. Floats, including those of giant boats, were paraded down the illuminated road. A dance performance reenacted an ancient festival that celebrated the bounty the Nile River’s annual flooding brought to the fields. A fireworks display and a live orchestra added grandeur to the event.