Viva Las Vegas!

5. Luxor Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV

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Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes on the River Nile, the fabulous capital of Egypt ruled by Amun-Ra, the King of the gods. In 1993 Circus Circus Enterprises unveiled its version of the Egyptian pyramids which was the tallest building on the Las Vegas Strip at the time. Some 10,000 people were on hand to walk through the doors of the Luxor on its opening day; it had cost $375 million, raised entirely in Circus Circus casinos. The 365-foot high pyramid is entombed by 11 acres of dark bronze glass. The atrium was the largest in the world. Out front a 110-foot re-creation of the original Great Sphinx of Giza is nearly twice the size of the original rendering of the mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. The ancient Egyptians often placed obelisks at the entrance to temples as a symbol of Amun-Ra and the Luxor's reaches 140 feet into the sky, taller than anything in antiquity. At night, beaming out of the pyramid tip is said to be the brightest beam of light on the planet. The Luxor Sky Beam can generate more than 42 billion candle power and can be seen on a clear light from aircraft in Los Angeles. Its engineers like to say that there is enough light from the beam to read a newspaper ten miles into space. When cranked up to full power, which rarely happens anymore since America turned energy conscious, the Luxor Sky Beam costs more than $50 an hour to operate. Two additional towers designed in a ziggarut style popular in ancient Mesopotamia were added to bring the total number of rooms up to 4,440 making the Luxor the second largest hotel in Las Vegas. As part of the Mandalay Bay complex now owned by MGM Resorts International it is connected to its sister casino by a retail sky bridge and also the Mandalay Bay tram.