The Queens' Valley
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Situated south-west of the Valley of the kings, this necropolis since
the XVII dynasty, but mostly during the XIX and the XX dynasty was
destined to the queens and royal princes. Between the 1903 and the 1906,
the excavations directed by the Ernesto Schiapparelli have brought to
light many of the eighty tombs in the necropolis, others were incomplete
and unfortunately not one was intact. They are tombs smaller than the
kings’ ones and differentely decorated, there are no pits and the
representations of the relative cycles of the journey of the Sun in the
other world are rare. Instead there are many scenes from the book of the
Dead and the images of the dead people before the various divinities. The
carefull details, the equilibrium of the compositions and the intensity of
the colors are remarkable. The most important tomb discovered by Schiapparelli is Nefertari’s one, Ramses’s II wife. Even those of Ramses’s III daughter Khaemuaset and Amon herkhopeshef are important. In the tomb of princess Amhose even the mummy was found and one of the most ancient decorations of the book of the dead today kept in the Egyptian museum in Torino.
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