Base inscription on the back of colossal statue in the Great Court of Ramses II. Luxor, Egypt

"Beyond the pylons, the temple 's large peristyle court is surrounded by two rows of papyrus-bud columns and contains, on the left, the Abu el-Haggag mosque, and on the right, the tripartite barque shrine built by Ramesses II for the visiting deities, Amun (Amon), Mut and Khonsu of Karnak. In the court's southern half, eleven colossal statues of the king stand between the columns in the first rank (the five on the east nearly balancing the six on the west)." [Wilkinson R., 2000: The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson]. "With the village of Karnak, Luxor (Al Uqsur) is on the site of ancient Thebes (capital of the New Kingdom). When Thebes declined, Luxor remained the more heavily populated part of the ancient city and grew into a modern market town." [The J.P.Getty Fund: Thesaurus of Geographic Names]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Institute of Architects, directing the Egyptian portion of the documentary on Ancient Egypt, March 1965 and September 1965.