Tomb of Nefertari: Egypt’s Most Vivid Archaeological Discovery

Once British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered it in 1922, the tomb of King Tutankhamun instantly became a worldwide fascination. Such a discovery is by all means one of the most significant ones in Egyptian history, as the tomb was completely preserved. Since it was closed over 3,000 years ago, no one could locate it, let alone dare to annoy the young pharaoh.

Among the many things the world has been fussing about are the thousands of treasures scattered everywhere in the tomb’s chambers, inside the pharaoh’s sacred coffin and even between layers of linen that wrapped his mummy. Most of these fantastic artefacts are now displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, where thousands of tourists flock every year to gaze in awe at the beauty and innovation of ancient Egypt.

The great recognition the tomb of King Tut has received over more than a century, however, seems to have overshadowed other no less significant archaeological discoveries. One such amazing one was the stunning discovery of the tomb of Queen Nefertari, another gold medalist in ancient Egyptian art, innovation and excellence. 

In this article, we will take you on a journey to the tomb of Queen Nefertari, by far one of the largest and most beautifully vivid tombs ever built in ancient Egypt. So bring along a cup of coffee and read on.

Queen Nefertari

Before we get to the tomb of Nefertari and understand what makes it that remarkable, it makes sense to learn a thing or two about who Nefertari was in the first place. Queen Nefertari was one of the most famous queens of ancient Egypt, a name that was meant to be amongst other majestic women who changed the course of history for this country, such as the mighty Queen Hatshepsut.

Queen Nefertari was the first and royal wife of Pharaoh Rameses II, or Ramesses the Great, considered the most potent ancient Egyptian king. His reign lasted 67 years, and his lifetime was 90 years, and both were filled with terrific achievements and massive changes he made in Egypt.

In the ancient Egyptian, Nefertari means the Beautiful One of the Most Beautiful of Them All, and she certainly was beautiful, as depicted on the walls of her magnificent tomb.

Besides her beautiful name, Nefertari had many different titles, including the Sweet of Love, Lady of Grace, Lady of All Lands and the One for Whom the Sun Shines. The latter was given to her by Ramesses II himself, indicating his love and affection for her.

Nefertari’s origin and childhood are pretty much unknown. The only record of anything like that was an inscription of her name combined with King Ay in a cartouche on a wall of her tomb. The thing is, King Ay was an 18th Dynasty pharaoh who ruled from 1323 to 1319 BC, way before Nefertari was born. If she were in any way related to him, she would be his granddaughter or even great-granddaughter. However, that was not confirmed anywhere.

What is known for sure is that Nefertari married Ramesses II when he was still a prince and his father, King Seti I, who also had one of the most magnificent tombs, was still in power. Nefertari was the same age as or a few years younger than Ramesses. Some say she was around 13, and he was 15 when they married, or maybe a little older than that.

Once Ramesses II became the pharaoh in 1279 BC—when he was around 24 at the time—and because Nefertari was his first wife—yes, he had many other wives—she became the royal queen. Ramesses II ruled during the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, one of the three golden ages of ancient Egypt.

Together, the couple had four sons and two daughters; some records even say they were four daughters. Nefertari died in 1255 BC, probably in her early to mid-forties. On the other hand, Ramesses II lived until he was 90 and died in 1213 BC.

Tomb of Queen Nefertari

Despite the little-known things about Nefertari’s life, it was evident that her relationship with Ramesses II was extraordinary. She was his closest and most favourite wife, and he was deeply in love with her. This was extremely clear from what he did after her death to honour her life. He left her a legacy that would make her remembered for eternity, best represented by the vivid, lavish tomb he built.

This vivid, lavish tomb Ramesses II built for his wife is in the Valley of the Queens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is where the royal wives of ancient Egyptian kings were buried. The valley is situated on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite Thebes, modern-day Luxor.

The tomb was discovered in 1904 by Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli and was given the number QV66. Once he opened the door, Schiaparelli knew he was before a distinctive discovery no one had ever encountered. The tomb was magnificent. All the walls were decorated with amazingly vivid and colourful paintings. Not a single space was even left uncoloured.

Later, the QV66 was nicknamed the Sistine Chapel of ancient Egypt because, in a way, it resembled the Sistine Chapel in the Apostolic Palace of Vatican City.

Structure of the Tomb of Queen Nefertari

So what exactly is Nefertari’s tomb-like?

First of all, it is spacious—very spacious. With a total area of 520 square metres, this is one of the largest tombs in the entire Valley of the Queens.

To get to the tomb, one must descend over 20 steps because it is underground, basically carved out of a limestone cliff. Then, a massive metal door, installed there after the tomb’s discovery, opens to a new realm of beauty, elegance and vividness.

The tomb was made of three chambers. The first one is the antechamber, to which the second chamber is connected through a small corridor on the right. Both chambers are on the same level. The third one, the burial chamber, the largest of the three, is on a lower level and attached to the antechamber by another set of steps.

The burial chamber is 90 square metres and quite vast. Its ceiling is supported by four columns. On its right and left sides, there are also two annexe rooms.

The burial chamber is the sanctum of the tomb and its most sacred place. It is supposedly where the Queen’s coffin was placed. According to ancient Egyptian religion, the deceased was brought back to life for judgement.

Decorations in the Tomb of Queen Nefertari

The tomb of Nefertari accurately represents the love and affection Ramesses II had for his wife. Besides its vast size, what is even more magnificent about this tomb is the stunning paintings and decorations that stayed colourful and vivid even after thousands of years. They are literally beyond any description.

First, the ceiling is dark blue with thousands of golden five-angle stars depicting a clear summer night sky. All the walls of the tomb have white backgrounds painted on top of them, and there are many scenes and portraits of the Queen.

The antechamber, for instance, is decorated with scenes and paintings taken from the Book of the Dead. This ancient Egyptian book contains about 200 spells believed to have guided the deceased in the afterlife.

On the walls of the antechamber, we can find different paintings of the ancient Egyptian gods, including Osiris, the god of the dead and afterlife, and Anubis, the guide to the underworld and one who protected graves. They are all painted in different bright colours on that white background, and Nefertari herself is welcomed by them.

Besides the paintings, countless hieroglyphic texts are again taken from the Book of the Dead and written everywhere, as if they explain the painted scenes.

The paintings foresee how Nefertari would be doing in her afterlife and depict what her earthly life was like. One painting, for instance, shows the Queen playing senet, an ancient Egyptian board game.

One wall of the burial chamber is divided into two parts. The upper one shows Nefertari’s mummy surrounded by two falcons on the right and left sides, a lion, a heron, and a male figure, all dazzling in beautiful bright colours. The lower part features significant hieroglyphic texts, again taken from the Book of the Dead, written vertically on a white background.

The columns of the burial chamber are also decorated with different paintings of the Queen. On the walls of this chamber, as well, there are many different scenes of Nefertari with different gods and divine creatures, including, but not limited to, Horus, Isis, Amun, Ra, and Serket. 

The Queen’s name was found in several cartouches on the walls of her tomb. These oval-shaped paintings contain the royal’s name. As we mentioned earlier, one combines Nefertari with King Ay with no other reference to why they were written in the same cartouche or what their relationship could be.

The artists who created all this fantastic work took special care to show how beautiful Nefertari was. There are so many portraits of her wearing a gorgeous white dress, a vulture headdress, and a plum-shaped crown. In all of them, the Queen has outlined eyes and eyebrows, blushy cheeks, and a beautiful physique.

Besides everything we mentioned, one last thing still shows how much Ramesses II cared about honouring his wife. That is, there is not even a single portrait of him with Nefertari, in a way that would falsely indicate she was single. It is like Ramesses II stepped aside and made her tomb all about her.

Robbery of the Tomb of Queen Nefertari

It does not take a genius to know that a tomb as big and spectacular as Nefertari’s would be filled with countless treasures of all kinds, colours, shapes, materials, and values. At the time of the Queen’s burial, the tomb must have been stuffed with artefacts, figures, jewellery, clothes, and any belongings that those who buried her thought she would need in the afterlife. This was something ancient Egyptians were famous for, anyway.

But when Ernesto Schiaparelli opened the tomb over a century ago, it was clear that he was not the first to do that.

Unlike the tomb of King Tut, which remained untouched ever since it was closed after the pharaoh’s burial thousands of years ago until its discovery in 1922, the tomb of Nefertari was pretty much empty. Everything that was once buried with the Queen was stolen, including Nefertar’s coffin and mummy.

Thankfully, the only thing that remained in this tomb and was preserved was the vivid paintings on the walls. This was apparently because they were part of the tomb, which itself was part of a cliff. Otherwise, thieves would not have missed them.

It is unknown when or how the tomb was located and robbed, but this could have happened during a time of chaos. As scholars agreed, the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties made the New Kingdom of Egypt. This was the last of the three golden ages of ancient Egypt.

The New Kingdom was then followed by the Second Intermediate Period. As the name suggests, this was a period of conflicts and mayhem during which the pharaohs and military were weakened. So laws were violated, crimes were increasingly committed, and tomb robberies, like the Baby Shark song, went viral. This could be when Nefertari’s tomb was robbed.

The only items found in the tomb when it was discovered in 1904 were a piece of golden bracelets, an earring, a few small Ushabti figures of the Queen, a pair of sandals, and fragments of her granite coffin. Some of those are currently in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

In addition to these items, two mummified legs were found in the tomb. Using modern research methods, it was proven that they belonged to the Queen herself. Unfortunately, they are not in Egypt because Ernesto Schiaparelli took them back to Italy for display at the Museo Egizio of Turin or the Egyptian Museum in Turin. They have been there since then.

Closure of Tomb of Queen Nefertari

The fantastic tomb of Nefertari was, and still is, an outstanding archaeological find that had to be shared with the entire world. Not only those interested in ancient Egypt or even art advocates but almost everyone on this planet needed to see these beautiful and surprisingly well-preserved paintings beyond comparison.

Ever since it was discovered, Nefertari’s tomb has been open to tourists. Over the years, however, the paintings were exposed to bacteria, salt formation, humidity, and even water, and they started to deteriorate. This caused the Egyptian authorities to close the tomb in 1950 for fear of losing the paintings altogether.

Luckily, in 1986, the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation and the American Getty Conservation Institute agreed upon a project to restore the deteriorated paintings of Nefertari’s tomb. The project started in 1988 and was completed four years later, and the tomb, once again, returned to its original wonderful, well-conserved state.

Since then, the Getty Conservation Institute has closely monitored the tomb to ensure it stays well.

To protect the tomb, preserve its alluring paintings and not waste four years of hard work, Egypt decided to reopen the tomb to visitors but only gave access to a maximum of 150 of them at a time. 

However, that did not seem to work either, so it had to be boiled down even more. In 2006, the tomb was closed once again to the public. Only private tours of a maximum of 20 people were granted access under the condition of obtaining a special licence for $3,000—we know, too expensive.

To help attract more tourists and revive tourism, which had been affected by the political situation in the country since 2011, Egypt lifted the restrictions on the tomb’s entry and allowed whoever wanted to pay tribute to the Queen to visit her very sacred tomb for a ticket of EGP1400—still expensive, we know (shrug gesture!).

Winter is the best season to visit Luxor (and Aswan) and spend a wonderful vacation exploring some of the world’s most fascinating monuments. If you ever make it there, visit the beautiful tomb of Queen Nefertari. Although admission is a bit costly, once you descend these steps and enter the sacred realm of ancient Egypt, you will instantly know that this experience is worth it.

Once you finish that, do not forget to stop by King Tut’s tomb, which is only 8.4 kilometres from Queen Nefertari’s. This is another attraction you must never miss visiting while in Luxor.