Nefertari
Valley Of Queens; Thebes

Nefertari, Valley Of Queens; Thebes

The Valley Of The Queens is located on the Western Bank with the Mountain Of Thebes providing a natural pyramid in the background. It is located on the southern edge of the Theban necropolis. It is about 1 1/2 KM SouthWest of The Valley Of The Kings. Ancient Egyptians called it "Set Neferu" meaning Seat Of Beauty. Only a few of the eighty tombs are open to the public. During the 18th Dynasty princes and queens were buried in the valley, while in the 19th Dynasty only queens were buried here.
Nefertari means "the most beautiful of them all". She was the favorite wife of several of the wives to Ramses II who was one of the greatest of the pharaohs. The tomb of Nefertari is probably the most beautiful of all of the tombs in The Valley Of The Queens. It is a wonderful structure with very unusual decorative motifs and colored scenes showing Nefertari with long transparent flowing garmets and beautiful jewelry. She is shown as a thin waisted woman with a beautiful face. The tomb is decorated with a ceiling of yellow stars upon a blue background representing the heavens.
The tomb was discovered by the Italian archeologist Schiaparelli in 1904. It has a long staircase leading from its entrance down into a hall measuring 17 x 17.5 feet. Inside the hall is a rock cut bench and a cavetto cornice to hold funeral items. Unfortunately, rainwater has leached into the tomb over the years and salt deposits have ruined much of the plaster layers in the tomb. Extensive restoration work has been done to the paintings and steps have been taken to stop the leaching.