Luxor, Egypt
Coordinates: 25.728928, 32.592791
The Valley of the Queens is a site in Egypt, where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient times.
It was most famous for being the burial site of many wives of Pharaohs. Pharaohs themselves were buried in the Valley of the Kings.
The Valley of the Queens consists of the main wadi, which contains most of the tombs, along with the Valley of Prince Ahmose, the Valley of the Rope, the Valley of the Three Pits, and the Valley of the Dolmen. The main wadi contains 91 tombs and the subsidiary valleys add another 19 tombs. The burials in the subsidiary valleys all date to the 18th Dynasty.
The reason for choosing the Valley of the Queens as a burial site is not known. The close proximity to the workers’ village of Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings may have been a factor.
Tomb of nafreteri
QV66 is the tomb of Nefertari, the Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II, in Egypt’s Valley of the Queens. It was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904.
In the Valley of the Queens, Nefertari’s tomb once held the mummified body and representative symbolisms of her, like what most Egyptian tombs consisted of.
Now, everything had been looted except for two thirds of the 5,200 square feet of wall paintings. For what still remains, these wall paintings characterized Nefertari’s character. Her face was given a lot of attention to emphasize her beauty, especially the shape of her eyes, the blush of her cheeks, and her eyebrows.
Know This
Tomb of Queen Nefartari costs extra, a lot extra, E1000 which is about US$60, and you only get 10 minutes in the tomb, but it is worth it! The colors are so vivid you’d think the tomb was painted yesterday! And the artwork is breathtaking! Some have described her tomb as the Sistine Chapel of Egypt.
Recommend you get there early, when the Valley opens. By getting there early you can have a very special experience.
Or you can go was after 3 p.m., when all the tourist coaches have left. It close at 5 p.m. but that leaves 30 minutes for each of three tombs.
The number of people allowed in at any time is limited, but that increases the enjoyment of the tomb, compared to some of the crowds we ended up in tombs in The Valley of the Kings.
