The ancient Egyptian funerary temple of King Amenhotep III had two sphinx statues discovered by archeologists.
King Amenhotep III was a pharaoh who ruled Egypt when it was rich in gold and oversaw a peaceful period of prosperity.
The ministry said that the statues depict King Amenhotep III in the form of a sphinx, with a lion's body and a human head, wearing a mongoose headdress, a royal beard, and a wide necklace.
The "Temple of Millions of Years" is where the statues were found half-submerged in water.
Three black granite busts of the goddess Sekhmet, a goddess of war and healing, were found by the team.
The ministry said the walls and columns were decorated with inscriptions of ceremonial and ritual scenes.
The goddess Sekhmet is a goddess of war and healing and is often depicted as a lion.
Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
There are inscriptions on the remains of a wall.
Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The head of the Egyptian-German mission said in a statement that the large sphinxes indicated the location of a procession road used to celebrate festivals.
Archeologists found an inscription on the sphinx's chest that said "the beloved of the god Amun-Re", referring to the sun god often depicted as a sphinx.
The funerary temple, built close to the Nile river by King Amenhotep III, was destroyed by an earthquake.
The main purpose of the mortuary temple was to be a place for offerings for Amenhotep III after his death.
The project to restore the temple and the Colossi of Memnon began in 1998 under the supervision of the Egyptian tourism ministry.
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