# The 21 Greatest Ancient Egyptian Monuments

> Some of these drew Greek tourists 2,000 years ago, and a couple were only dug out of the sand in the last century.

*By YPB Team · Published September 29, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-21-greatest-ancient-egyptian-monuments*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Bent Pyramid** — score 1000/1000
   Sneferu's pyramid at Dahshur whose sides change angle partway up.
2. **Karnak** — score 999/1000
   Vast temple complex at Luxor built up over some 2,000 years, with the forest of columns in the Great Hypostyle Hall.
3. **Colossi of Memnon** — score 954/1000
   Two seated stone statues of Amenhotep III, about 18 metres tall, that guarded his vanished mortuary temple.
4. **Medinet Habu** — score 849/1000
   Mortuary temple of Ramesses III, carved with reliefs of his battles against the Sea Peoples.
5. **Philae** — score 818/1000
   Island temple of Isis near Aswan, taken apart and rebuilt on higher ground during the Nubian rescue campaign.
6. **Kom Ombo** — score 734/1000
   Double temple above the Nile shared by the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Haroeris.
7. **Temple of Hatshepsut** — score 734/1000
   Terraced temple of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, set against the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari.
8. **Pyramid of Djoser** — score 734/1000
   Saqqara's step pyramid, the oldest of Egypt's pyramids, designed for King Djoser by Imhotep.
9. **Unfinished Obelisk** — score 734/1000
   Giant obelisk abandoned in an Aswan quarry after it cracked, still lying in the bedrock.
10. **Temple of Edfu** — score 520/1000
   Ptolemaic temple of Horus, one of the best preserved in Egypt, its roof and great pylon still standing.
11. **Tomb of Nefertari** — score 520/1000
   Tomb of Ramesses II's queen in the Valley of the Queens, its walls still bright with paint.
12. **Dendera Temple** — score 520/1000
   Temple of Hathor north of Luxor, known for its vividly restored painted ceilings.
13. **Tomb of Tutankhamun** — score 520/1000
   Tutankhamun's small tomb, found almost intact by Howard Carter in 1922.
14. **Great Sphinx of Giza** — score 520/1000
   Limestone lion with a king's head carved from the bedrock of Giza, usually dated to Khafre's reign.
15. **Pyramids of Giza** — score 520/1000
   Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure's pyramids west of Cairo; the Great Pyramid was the tallest structure on Earth for about 3,800 years.
16. **Luxor Temple** — score 382/1000
   Temple on the east bank at Luxor, linked to Karnak by an avenue lined with sphinxes.
17. **Temple of Seti I, Abydos** — score 382/1000
   Temple at Abydos with some of Egypt's finest reliefs and the Abydos King List.
18. **Red Pyramid** — score 382/1000
   Sneferu's second pyramid at Dahshur, the first to be finished with smooth sides.
19. **Ramesseum** — score 382/1000
   Mortuary temple of Ramesses II whose fallen colossus is linked to Shelley's poem Ozymandias.
20. **Abu Simbel** — score 0/1000
   Two temples of Ramesses II cut into a Nubian cliff and moved uphill in the 1960s to escape Lake Nasser.
21. **Valley of the Kings** — score 0/1000
   Royal burial valley on the west bank at Luxor, with more than 60 tombs.

Tags: travel, landmarks, egypt, archaeology