Luxor is a city in Upper (southern) Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate  As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes  Luxor has frequently been characterized as the  world's greatest open-air museum  as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city  Immediately opposite  across the River Nile  lie the monuments  temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens