Egypt Guide
The Nile Valley
The Valley of the Kings
Secluded amid the bone-dry Theban Hills, removed from other parts of the Necropolis, the Valley of the Kings (daily: summer 6am–5pm; winter 6am–4pm) was intended as the ultimate insurance policy on life eternal. These secretive tombs of New Kingdom pharaohs were planned to preserve their mummies and funerary impedimenta for eternity. While most failed the test, their dramatic shafts and phantasmagorical murals are truly amazing. The descent into the underworld and the fear of robbers who braved the traps is still imaginable in the less crowded, darker tombs.
Royal burials in the "Place of Truth" (as the Ancient Egyptians called it) date from the early XVIII to the late XX dynasties. The first to be buried here was probably Tuthmosis I (1525–1512 BC). Until the time of Ramses I, queens and royal children were entombed here. The tombs were hewn and decorated by skilled craftsmen (known as "Servants at the Place of Truth") who dwelt at nearby Deir el-Medina. Work began early in a pharaoh's reign and never exceeded six years' duration; even so, some tombs were hastily pressed into service, or usurped by later kings. Broadly speaking, there are two types: the convoluted, split-level ones of early XVIII Dynasty rulers such as Tuthmosis I and Amenophis II, and the straighter, longer tombs of the XIX and XX dynasties.
Just before the ticket office is a new visitors' centre (free), whose centrepiece is a scale model of the valley, exquiisitely crafted from glass to show each tomb's depth and alignment in relation to the others. Here you can also watch a brief film of the official opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Beyond this are a cloakroom for stashing video cameras (free) and an office selling tickets for the Valley of the Kings and Ay's tomb in the Western Valley.