The ominous green light beams upward piercing the Las Vegas sky. This laser, the brightest artificial light on Earth, beckons curious seekers to its base, a thirty story replica of the Egyptian pyramid of Khafre at Giza. Khafre's Pyramid, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, gives an understanding of the Egyptian culture over 4000 years age. Located within the spectacular city of Las Vegas, Nevada, the Luxor Hotel and Casino creates a bridge between ancient Egyptian architecture with futuristic technology.

Completed on October 15, 1993, the Luxor Hotel gives its patrons a taste of ancient Egypt. With 600 feet on each side at the base, this huge building contains 2,526 rooms, seven restaurants, and a casino. The inside is lavishly decorated with many reproductions of Egyptian artifacts and paintings giving the hotel a sense of antiquity. The outside of the Luxor is just as magnificent. Encased in bronze reflective glass, the 2,526 rooms, slanted at a 49 degree angle, overlook the center atrium of the pyramid. The tip of the structure is golden. Just adjacent to the pyramid is a full size replica of the Great Sphinx with green lasers shooting out from its eyes. To top off the magnificence, the Luxor's "River Nile" meanders throughout the building. The river is "a 1600 foot long, 18 inch deep, concrete-lined indoor" waterway that holds "400,000 gallons of moving water on a suspended slab structure over inhabited space." This river takes guests of the hotel first to the registration desk and then anywhere throughout the structure. This $375 million project took just eighteen months to build with 1800 workers working around the clock. The Luxor Hotel and Casino is a splendor to the eye.

Build about four thousand years earlier, the Khafre Pyramid at Giza also fills one's eyes with amazement. This pyramid, in all practicality, acted as a tomb for the great Egyptian king Khafre. Though slowly deteriorating, the Khafre Pyramid was "originally finished with a sheath of polished limestone." This limestone finish gave the pyramid a sense of elegance and beauty. Sadly today, only a small portion of the finish is intact at the pinnacle of the pyramid; the rest has fallen victim to time. The measurements of this pyramid is 140 meters high with a 216 meter square base. Its angle is about 52 degrees. This mountain of masonry contained passageways and chambers filled with Egyptian treasures honoring the dead king. Incidentally, there is a religious aspect to the Great Pyramid. In Egyptian religion, death brought on immortality to the king; Egyptian pharaohs were revered as gods. According to Stokstad,

the immense monuments reflect not only the desire of a
[king] to attain immortality but also the strength of the
Egyptians' belief that a deceased ruler continued to
affect the well-being of the state and his people from
beyond the grave.

It was believed by Egyptians that gods slept in the Great Pyramids. Once sealed, there was no way into the pyramids; therefore, a perfect resting place for these gods. As for the labor force and time it took to build the monument, the Greek historian, Herodotus, believed the pyramid was build by "100,000 men [for about] twenty years." This project basically relieved any unemployment problems during the time through government funding. The building of the Khafre Pyramid was a monumental task rewarded as being one of the "Seven Wonders of the World."

The one main difference between these two works of art lies in the purpose of each. The Khafre Pyramid was built as a tomb to honor its pharaoh; the Luxor Hotel and Casino is a theme park made to make money for its owners. In describing the Luxor pyramid, Abdel-Salam Ragab, a manager of a similar replica, states, "What you see here is commercial, but very exact. After all, this is America." The Luxor Hotel and Casino was extravagantly made to entice and treat its guest to taste of the old with a capitalistic purpose. The Khafre Pyramid was a sacred place housing a god, in which no one was allowed into. Should the builders of the Luxor pyramid really have copied such holy place as Khafre's Pyramid? I am not the one to say, but in reality this is the 1990s and we are headed into the 21st century. Technology is changing so fast, almost anything is possible. The Luxor Hotel and Casino is a state of the art building which took a lot of money to build. This is America and the ever-present dollar is everyones' dream.

The similarities between the two pyramids are staggering. They are almost exact in size and just about equal in splendor. Both of these pyramids are works of art skillfully built by brilliant minds. The artistic expression found in the creation of the pyramids is beauty on a gigantic proportion. The Luxor Hotel and Casino tried to replicate one of the Seven Wonders of the World; and in so doing, came very close. Just looking at either of these two pieces, one can only stand in awe of the magnificence and perfection created by their builders.

In conclusion, having been to and admired both of these works of art, I can only stress my appreciation and awe of Egyptian architecture. The beauty and perfection marked with a dot of simplicity is breath-taking. I can only hope to visit these majestic building again losing myself in Egyptian culture.

Bibliography

Manning, Gregory. "Perini Builds a New Las Vegas," Engineering News Record, January 1994: 44.

Smith, E. Baldwin. Egyptian Architecture. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1938.

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Volume one. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1995.

Young, Peter A., "Howard Carter In Luxorland," Archaeology, April 1994: 72.