Valley of the Kings is part of the necropolis in Western Thebes which is the burial place of the kings of Egypt in the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasty. The first pharaoh, who ordered the construction of his tomb in the Valley was Thutmose I, the last - Ramses XI.
The tombs in the Valley is carved into the rock, burial complexes, consisting of a number of corridors and halls. In the Valley of the Kings was discovered not only the place of burial, but unfinished burial chambers. In total, archaeologists discovered the 64 tombs and 20 started and unfinished buildings.
Valley of the Kings served as a royal necropolis more than five hundred years. In time, when it tombs were coming in, it started it running out of space for new ones. There was no detailed, and even a cursory plan of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and over the years their position has been forgotten. In such conditions, only a happy coincidence could make builders of new tombs not burst into existing ones.
The most famous building is the tomb of Tutankhamen. It was found fully equipped. The king's mummy lay in a sarcophagus made of quartzite in three coffins: the first two were made of gilded wood, and the third was made of gold. It is decorated with inlays of stones: turquoise, lapis lazuli, Bloodstones. Gold mummy mask covering, inlaid elements from molten glass, indulged features of the young king. On the forehead placed royal ureus - the head of a cobra and vulture - symbol of royal power, designed to provide protection to the deceased. Artificial beard with a folded end symbolizes the relationship Pharaoh with Osiris.
The construction of the tomb differs from the typical royal tombs. To the tomb leads 16 steps, behind them stretches a long ramp entering the vestibule from which you can go to the side of the chamber, called the annex and the burial chamber. The burial chamber connects back to the room called the Treasury.
Most of found objects are the crafts and jewelry; furniture, shrines, chariots, statues, weapons, jewelry, dishes and other - according to the ancient Egyptians - the necessary items in the afterlife. In the tomb also found mummies those of small children - girls probably died in infancy and were daughters of Pharaoh. In the tomb was a miniature coffin with a lock of hair and the inscription with the name of Queen Tiye.
Today, most of the equipment of the tomb is located at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The paradox is that most of our information about the art of Egypt, theological concepts and rituals of the New Kingdom comes from the period of the short reign of Tutankhamun, the king, who had no prominent role in history of Egypt.
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