The Valley of The Kings: The Royal Burial Site That Was the Gateway to the Afterlife | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 6 (Part 47) 05D19

The Valley of The Kings in Luxor, Egypt | Exploring the World’s Most Famous Tombs

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The three tombs suggested by our tour guide and most of our tour mates decided to visit together were:

KV11 – Ramses III

KV2 – Ramses IV

KV8 – Merenptah

I will briefly describe these 3 tombs here.

KV11 – Ramses III

The tomb of Ramses III is the largest tombs. To get inside, you have to go through many long passageways. They are not too steep but involve a lot of walking.

Everywhere, including the ceiling, you would see detailed artwork. There is also a burial chamber. This tomb has a lot to see and would take some time if you go through each section.

KV2 – Ramses IV

The tomb of Ramses IV is not a huge tomb, but a pretty one. The downward entrance consists of three slowly descending corridors. The construction here was simpler compared to other tombs and was cut short at 89 m, upon the early death of the pharaoh.

Still, there is a lot to see here and it is totally awe-inspiring. The preservation was spectacular and makes it hard to believe these artworks were made thousands of years ago.

KV8 – Merenptah

This tomb involves a downhill walk through steep, declining passageways of stairs. Some of the walls were barren and had no artwork. There was a large burial chamber, but the mummy was not there. The mummy of Marenptah is in an Egyptian museum in Cairo.

I found KV8 – Merenptah not too colorful and kind of black and white. Everyone has a hard time exiting this tomb due to the sharp ascending stairs back to the ground level.

Each tomb is unique and different, but they all have some things in common. All of them painstakingly designed and meticulously crafted with carvings, reliefs, and paintings. The colorful and hard-to-believe artworks fill the walls, corridors, side rooms, antechambers, final burial chambers, sarcophaguses, ceilings, and basically everywhere.

I couldn’t fathom how they built things like these so many years ago when there was no electricity or motors. No prefab colors, no technological advancement; it was almost like they had nothing.

Our next stop would be Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari.