Queen Nefertari's Tomb
The Tomb of Queen Nefertari
Location
The Tomb of Nefertari is situated in Egypt in the Valley of the Queens, which is located in Thebes near Luxor.
Time Period
Queen Nefertari lived from 1290BC till 1255BC so during her reign in the 19th Egyptian Dynasty, her tomb would’ve been constructed and prepared for her burial.
Archaeology
The first archaeologist to discover the Tomb was Ernesto Schiaparelli, the Director of the Turin Museum. He discovered the tomb in 1904 and he then spent two years excavating the site and other sites around the valley of the queens with not much success. Tomb robbers had already stolen most of the artefacts that would’ve been inside the tomb when Schiaparelli discovered it. However he did find some minor objects, including Shabti Figures, a pair of the Queen’s sandals and a knob of a cane with a print of King Ay on it. The main part of the tomb was the magnificent paintings on the walls. Since the tomb had been there for over 3000 years the state of the paintings and walls had suffered immensely. The quality of the tomb’s structure was not particularly great therefore it was not conserved well. For instance, unlike other tombs, the beautiful paintings were not painted directly onto the wall but onto plaster which coated the walls throughout the tomb. Over the years, land slides caused deterioration and salt deposit which put the paintings in a dangerous state of preservation.
Restorations
The tomb was in a pretty horrible state, so for a long time between the end of the excavation and 1986 the site was basically abandoned. Then, in 1986 the Ministry of Culture and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization in cooperation with Getty Conservation Institute were determined to restore the Tomb completely. They employed a team of skilled and professional conservators to save the beautiful tomb from disaster. To save the tomb’s beauty and structure, the conservators applied over 10,000 strips of Japanese Mulberry-Bark
Location
The Tomb of Nefertari is situated in Egypt in the Valley of the Queens, which is located in Thebes near Luxor.
Time Period
Queen Nefertari lived from 1290BC till 1255BC so during her reign in the 19th Egyptian Dynasty, her tomb would’ve been constructed and prepared for her burial.
Archaeology
The first archaeologist to discover the Tomb was Ernesto Schiaparelli, the Director of the Turin Museum. He discovered the tomb in 1904 and he then spent two years excavating the site and other sites around the valley of the queens with not much success. Tomb robbers had already stolen most of the artefacts that would’ve been inside the tomb when Schiaparelli discovered it. However he did find some minor objects, including Shabti Figures, a pair of the Queen’s sandals and a knob of a cane with a print of King Ay on it. The main part of the tomb was the magnificent paintings on the walls. Since the tomb had been there for over 3000 years the state of the paintings and walls had suffered immensely. The quality of the tomb’s structure was not particularly great therefore it was not conserved well. For instance, unlike other tombs, the beautiful paintings were not painted directly onto the wall but onto plaster which coated the walls throughout the tomb. Over the years, land slides caused deterioration and salt deposit which put the paintings in a dangerous state of preservation.
Restorations
The tomb was in a pretty horrible state, so for a long time between the end of the excavation and 1986 the site was basically abandoned. Then, in 1986 the Ministry of Culture and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization in cooperation with Getty Conservation Institute were determined to restore the Tomb completely. They employed a team of skilled and professional conservators to save the beautiful tomb from disaster. To save the tomb’s beauty and structure, the conservators applied over 10,000 strips of Japanese Mulberry-Bark
Bibliography: 8. iexplore Travelling Reviews. Tomb of Queen Nefertari - Luxor, Egypt, Reviewed by wanderluster, from ‘Honeymoon in Luxor’, 2002. 13. Dineen, J. 2000, Children’s Illustrated Library Ancient Worlds, Pioneer House Ltd, London. 14. Hart, G. 1997, Eyewitness Guides, Ancient Egypt, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. 15. Martell, H.M. 2001, The Kingfisher Book of the Ancient World, Kingfisher Publications, London.