It's recent fame is in its restoration, completed in 1992 by the
Egyptian Antiquities Organisation and the Getty Conservation
Institute. The restoration began as a rescue operation when it was
realised that the paintings were badly deteriorating due to the
effects of dampness. Many attempts at conservation had previously been
made, then in 1988 an international team of expert conservators
undertook the rescue of the tomb, studying the problems and
implementing geological, chemical and other scientific methods of
stabilisation. The plaster was strengthened and the damaged areas were
painstakingly repaired, and finally cleaned, so that the tomb looks
like it was painted only yesterday. Nefertari's tomb did not open to
the public until 1995, after being kept under observation for three
years to ensure that the work had been successful.
Nefertari Mery-en-Mut, whose name means 'most beautiful, beloved of
the goddess Mut', was the Great Royal Wife of Rameses II. Her tomb
reflects the queen's position in the eyes of her husband in the beauty
of its construction, its vivid colours and unusual scenes, and the
many favourable epitaphs which describe her beauty and her sweet and
charming nature.
At the bottom of an entrance stairway, the outer lintel of the doorway
has the usual Ramesside depiction of a sun disc between the goddesses
Isis and Nephthys in the guise of kites. This leads to an offering
hall decorated with scenes of the queen worshipping and offering to
various deities, and scenes from the 'Book of Gates'. An unusual
feature in this hall are the stone benches supported by pillars which
project from the north and west walls, presumably placed to contain
offerings or funerary items for the deceased. Also on the western
side, we can see Nefertari engaged in a game of senet while seated in
a kiosk with her 'ba' in front of her perched on the shrine. A 'benu'
bird represents the soul of the god Re and the queen's mummy can be
seen laid on a couch watched over by Isis and Nephthys. On the
northern wall, partially ruined, the four Sons of Horus stood guard
over a shrine of Anubis.
An opening on the eastern side of the offering chamber leads to a
side-room, its entrance flanked by Anubis on the right and Osiris on
the left. Inside the small vestibule Nefertari can be seen being led
by Isis to the scarab-headed god Khepri (north) and by Harsiese to Re-Horakhty
and the Western Goddess (south) after being greeted by the goddesses
Selkis and Neith.
The inner chamber, with the goddess Nekhbet as a vulture on the
lintel, leads into the side-room where the queen offers cloth to Ptah
and a djed pillar on the left-hand western wall. The northern wall
depicts her before the god Thoth, offering a palette and ink-pots as
the text of Chapter 94 of the 'Book of the Dead' prescribes. The
right-hand western wall symbolises the union of Osiris and Re,
depicted by a ram-headed mummiform Re between the goddesses Isis and
Nephthys. Following the wall round to the south with Chapter 148 of
the 'Book of the Dead', Nefertari adores seven celestial cows and a
bull together with the sacred oars from the four 'Helms of Heaven'.
The eastern wall contains a double scene of the queen making offerings
to Atum and Osiris.
Back in the offering hall four squatting 'Sons of Horus', together
with Neith and Selkis lead us through a short corridor to another
flight of stairs showing funerary texts and offering scenes (Hathor,
Nephthys and Ma'at on the left and Hathor, Selkis and Ma'at on the
right). The stairs lead to the doorway of the large burial chamber.
Four large square pillars, decorated on each side with scenes of
Nefertari with various deities, dominate the burial chamber and
support its astronomical ceiling. On each pillar a mummiform Osiris is
depicted on one of the sides, wearing the same red sash as worn by
Nefertari, suggesting that the queen and the god have become one. The
walls of the chamber are largely decorated with scenes from the 'Book
of Gates' (Chapters 144 and 146 of the 'Book of the Dead') with the
accompanying guardians for each Gate. Nefertari's burial was destroyed
in antiquity, the tomb plundered and left open, although several
fragments of burial equipment, including fragments of a gilded wooden
coffin and rose granite sarcophagus lid were found by Schiaparelli.
There are two lateral annexes and a rear inner room off the burial
chamber, but the decoration in these rooms is poorly preserved
compared to the main part of the tomb, with only a few fragments of
the once brightly painted plaster remaining.
The ceilings throughout the tomb are beautifully decorated with yellow
stars against a deep blue background. |
