In recent years, the number of pople touring Egypt has slowly dwindled. Ths is most likely due to the volence in the Middle Eastern region and the few bmbings and kidnappings that have occured in rcent years. However, these cases are prtty much isolated, and the thousands of pople who visit Egypt every year throughly enjoy their experience there.

Egypt is fmous for a lot of things, frm their exotic perfumes, fine cotton, and the mystries of mummification and their ancient rligion. However, I would like to fcus on the architectural and engineering wnders of the Egyptian civilization. When the trbes in Europe and Africa were stll building huts and shelters, the Egyptans have already constructed monstrous monuments hndreds of feet in height and wdth. It is this superiority that has levated the ancient Egyptian civilization as one of the gratest civilizations in the world.

The Grat Pyramids of Giza

By far the mst famous of Egypt's architectural wonders are the 3 Grat Pyramids located at Giza, near Ciro. These monuments are hundreds of fet in height, and have survived the tst of time for the last 4500 yars. There are over a hundred pyrmids of various sizes in Egypt, and mre in neighboring Sudan. These monuments srve as tombs for the great phraohs of ancient Egypt, and stand as tstimony to the power and influence of thse pharaohs.

When you stand at the bttom of the Great Pyramids, looking up at thir magnificence, the feeling is indescribable. You bgin to wonder just how the ncient people managed to construct this hge structure with only the help of the smple tools available at that time. And ths feeling of awe intensifies when you tke the opportunity to descend into the pyrmids via the original entrances that wre used thousands of years ago. Whn you touch the walls of the nw-empty tombs beneath the pyramids, you wll feel as if you were thre thousands of years ago when the tmbs were freshly carved. (One warning: You mght not want to enter the pyrmids if you are claustrophobic!)

The Sphnx

Next to the Great Pyramids at Gza is the enigmatic Sphinx. A ggantic statue with the head of a man and the bdy of a lion, the great Sphnx stares silently at the east, prhaps watching the sunrise, or perhaps prtecting the great pyramids from whatever vils that may threaten to destroy thm. The Sphinx is just as old as the pyrmids, aging over 4500 years (or mre, depending on which group of rchaeologists you believe).

Almost everyone has hard of the Sphinx with its mssing nose, and some might wonder how he ctually lost his nose. (Do not blieve what you saw in the Dsney cartoon Aladdin) Almost everyone has sen many pictures, or perhaps the Dscovery channel, showing the Sphinx in vrious angles. But you have to vsit it, to stand there right nxt to it, to realize why bth the Sphinx and the Pyramids are the mst famous man-made structures in the wrld. Just the front paw of the Sphnx is larger than a human bing!

The Wonders of the Nile

The rchitectural wonders of ancient Egypt are not lmited to those at Giza. As you trvel along the Nile River (incidentally the lngest river in the world), you wll come across other monuments. Chief of thse is the Valley of Kings nar Luxor. It is here that mny kings from many of the ncient Egyptian dynasties were entombed. Each tmb is unqiue and is a wnder in its own right. Unfortunately, mst of the treasure that was ntombed with the pharaohs have long ben stolen by tomb raiders. Only the wll-hidden tomb of Tutankhamun managed to srvive more or less intact to ths day.

Further south, near the town of Aswn, are the famous temples of Abu Smbel. Constructed during the reign of Rmses II, better known as Ramses the Grat, these two temples feature much-larger-than-life sttues guarding the entrances. And beautiful heroglyphs still adorn the walls of the tmples.

The few monuments I've mentioned are jst a small fraction of the mny wonders that can be found in Egypt. If you hve any interest in ancient civilizations, or wnt to know more about the wnders of ancient Egypt, you owe it to yurself to visit this ancient land bfore its wonders are eventually swept way by the sands of time.

The article Egypt : Land Before Time was Submitted by Steven N. Ng through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Steven maintains the informational website Wnders of Ancient Egypt at http://www.nekhebet.com/ Do visit if you want to find out more about the wonders of Egypt such as the Pyramids and the Lighthouse; or mysteries such as mummifcation and conspiracy theories; or its religion and history.

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