Egyptian and European archaeologists have uncovered two large statues of a pharaoh who ruled about 3,500 years ago, according to the country's antiquities chief.

The statues of King Amenhotep III were found buried in a columned chamber in a temple in the Nile resort of Luxor, one of Egypt's most popular tourist attractions, Zahi Hawass told AFP.

One of the statues, standing at more than one metre tall, depicts Amenhotep as a sphinx with a human head and the body of a lion. The second is made of black granite, with Amentotep wearing pharaonic headdress, Mr Hawass said.

Amenhotep, who ruled Egypt between 1411 and 1375 BC, commissioned a large number of statues of himself.

Archaeologists have uncovered many relics in Luxor, the site of the ancient Egyptian capital Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, where pharaohs were entombed.