Karnak Temple
Luxor, Egypt
Karnak has its own ticket office at the visitor centre by the entrance, and tickets for foreign visitors are paid by…
8 tickets & tours
Africa
Oldest temples in Africa
Africa's list is ancient Egypt first and early Islam second. Karnak, begun around 2000 BC under Senusret I and enlarged for two thousand years, heads it, followed by the Theban temples of Hatshepsut, Luxor and Medinet Habu and by Abu Simbel. The Ptolemaic temples at Edfu, Kom Ombo and Dendera are younger than they look. Then the dates jump to the first mosques: Amr ibn al-As in Cairo, about 642, the Great Mosque of Kairouan, founded in 670 and rebuilt in 836, Sousse and Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez.
| # | Temple | Country | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karnak Temple | Egypt | 2000 BC |
| 2 | Temple of Hatshepsut | Egypt | 1479 BC |
| 3 | Luxor Temple | Egypt | 1400 BC |
| 4 | Abu Simbel Temples | Egypt | 1264 BC |
| 5 | Medinet Habu (Temple of Ramesses III) | Egypt | 1200 BC |
| 6 | Philae Temple (Temple of Isis) | Egypt | 380 BC |
| 7 | Temple of Horus at Edfu | Egypt | 237 BC |
| 8 | Temple of Kom Ombo | Egypt | 180 BC |
| 9 | Dendera Temple Complex (Temple of Hathor) | Egypt | 54 BC |
| 10 | Temple of Kalabsha | Egypt | 30 BC |
| 11 | Mosque of Amr ibn al-As | Egypt | 642 |
| 12 | Great Mosque of Kairouan | Tunisia | 670 |
| 13 | Great Mosque of Sousse | Tunisia | 851 |
| 14 | Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University | Morocco | 859 |
| 15 | Mosque of Ibn Tulun | Egypt | 879 |
| 16 | Al-Azhar Mosque | Egypt | 970 |
| 17 | Al-Hakim Mosque | Egypt | 990 |
| 18 | Al-Aqmar Mosque | Egypt | 1125 |
| 19 | Koutoubia Mosque | Morocco | 1147 |
| 20 | Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque | Egypt | 1307 |
Temple of Hatshepsut
Luxor, Egypt
The temple at Deir el-Bahari sits on Luxor's West Bank, and almost everyone sees it as part of a wider tour of the…
4 tickets & tours
Luxor Temple
Luxor, Egypt
Luxor Temple stands in the middle of the modern city on the east bank of the Nile, so it is the easiest of the great…
20 tickets & tours
Abu Simbel Temples
Abu Simbel, Egypt
Abu Simbel stands in the far south of Egypt, close to the Sudanese border and roughly 280 km by road from Aswan, so the…
27 tickets & tours
Medinet Habu (Temple of Ramesses III)
Luxor, Egypt
Medinet Habu has its own entry ticket, bought at the ticket office by the site entrance or online in advance as a dated…
2 tickets & tours
Philae Temple (Temple of Isis)
Aswan, Egypt
Philae stands on an island, so every visit involves a short boat ride from the landing at Shellal, south of Aswan…
12 tickets & tours
Temple of Horus at Edfu
Edfu, Egypt
The ticket for Edfu is bought at the visitor centre at the entrance, and the price for foreign visitors is set by the…
8 tickets & tours
Temple of Kom Ombo
Kom Ombo, Egypt
Tickets for Kom Ombo are sold at the gate by the riverside and are paid on the spot;
9 tickets & tours
Dendera Temple Complex (Temple of Hathor)
Dendera, Egypt
Tickets for Dendera are sold at the entrance to the site, and since visitor numbers are modest there is no need to buy…
5 tickets & tours
Temple of Kalabsha
Aswan, Egypt
No ticket for Kalabsha is sold online. The entry ticket is bought at the kiosk on site, and the boat across the water…
No online ticket
Mosque of Amr ibn al-As
Cairo, Egypt
Nothing needs to be booked for the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As, and no ticket for it alone is sold online.
No online ticket
Great Mosque of Kairouan
Kairouan, Tunisia
Entry to the mosque is covered by the combined ticket for the monuments of Kairouan, which is sold at the tourist…
3 tickets & tours