a good view of the Great Hypostyle Hall, with the central, paired rows of 69-foot columns visible between the two palm trees. Have you noticed the lighting fixtures? They come into play during the sound-and-light show put on most nights at Karnak Temple. LUXOR TEMPLE: Pylon With Obelisk This elegant temple rests along the Nile in the heart of the modern town of Luxor (site of ancient Thebes). It was begun by Amenhotep III and largely completed by Ramses II, though later builders added to it, including Alexander the Great and several Roman emperors. You begin by facing south towards the temple's facade. Until it was cleared in the 1880s, the temple was engulfed in sand, which reached to the shoulders of the two seated statues of Ramses II that you see to either side of the portal. Ramses II also erected the 79-foot-tall pylon and a pair of pink granite obelisks. Only one obelisk remains; the French removed the other, which now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. As you move around this image, watch for people, who give a sense of scale. Can you locate the standing statue of Ramses II, one of four that once graced the pylon's facade? Head of Ramses II Ramses II (the Great) was one of the most prolific builders of ancient Egypt. Hardly a site exists that he did not initiate, add to, complete, or build entirely himself. Some of the greatest monuments on any tour of Egypt bear