Valley of the Kings, Luxor 
Pyramid-shaped mountain, Valley of the Kings. Photo © Richard Beck.
View of the Valley of the Kings. Photo © Richard Beck.
Tourists battle the heat to visit the ancient tombs. Photo © Yi-Chie Chang.
Exterior of the famous Tomb of King Tut (KV62). Photo © Richard Beck.
Tomb of Merenptah, KV8. Photo licensed under GFDL.
Mural in the tomb of Ramses II (KV7). Photo licensed under GFDL.
Painted ceiling in the Tomb of Ramses III (KV11). Photo © Richard Beck.
Inside Tomb KV34 (Thumose II). Photo licensed under GFDL.
Symbolic decoration in Tomb KV34 (Thumose II).
Interactive satellite map of the Valley of the Kings. For a larger view,
see our Luxor Map or Google Earth download.
The Valley of the Kings, Wadi el-Muluk (وادي الملوك) in Arabic, is a valley in Egypt where tombs were built for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The cult of death and the lifelong preparation for the afterlife were the focus of Egyptian religion, and the Valley of the Kings and other monuments in the West Bank necropolis are mute testimony to this obsession. The pharoahs were buried in secret tombs here and protected by the best security of the age, but few burial sites escaped the plundering of grave robbers.
History
The Valley of the Kings was created and used from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC. It contains some 60 tombs, starting with Thutmose I and ending with Ramses X or XI. The official name of the site was The Great and Majestic Necropolis of the Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes, or more usually, the Great Field.
The Valley of the Kings also had tombs for the favourite nobles and the wives and children of both the nobles and pharaohs. Around the time of Ramses I (ca. 1300 BC) the Valley of the Queens was begun, although some wives were still buried with their husbands.
What to See
The Valley of the Kings stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from modern Luxor, under the peak of the pyramid-shaped mountain Al-Qurn. It is separated into the East and West Valleys, with most of the important tombs in the East Valley.
The West Valley has only one tomb open to the public: the tomb of Ay, Tutankhamun's successor. There are a number of other important burials there, including that of Amenhotep III, but these are still being excavated and are not publicly accessible.
The acronym KV (for"King's Valley") is used to designate tombs located in the Valley of the Kings. Each tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings has been allocated a sequential "KV number" (those in the Western Valley are known by the WV equivalent) to aid identification.
The tombs are numbered in the order of modern discovery, from Ramesses VII (KV1) to Tutankhamun (KV62). Some of the tombs have been open since antiquity and KV5 has only recently been rediscovered. Graffiti on the walls of some of the tombs indicate that this was an attraction ancient Greek and Roman times.
Most of the open tombs in the Valley of the Kings are located in the East Valley, and this is where most tourists can be found as well. KV5 is the largest of the tombs, built for the sons of Ramesses II. It contains at least 67 burial chambers.
The most famous tomb is KV62, the Tomb of King Tutankhamun. The discovery of King Tut's tomb was made by Howard Carter on November 4, 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing until 1932. Tutankhamun's tomb was the first royal tomb to be discovered that was still largely intact (although tomb robbers had entered it), and was the last major discovery in the valley. The opulence of his grave goods notwithstanding, King Tutankhamun was a rather minor king and other burials probably had more numerous treasures.
Some members of the archaeological teams led by Carter and later archaeologists contracted local lethal viruses through food or animals (particularly insects), resulting in the infamous "Curse of The Pharaohs" modern legend.
Tombs of the East Valley
| KV1 | Tomb of Ramesses VII. |
| KV2 | Tomb of Ramesses IV. |
| KV3 | Tomb of an unnamed son of Ramesses III. |
| KV4 | Tomb of Ramesses XI. |
| KV5 | The recently rediscovered tomb of some of the sons of Ramesses II. With 120 known rooms and excavation work still underway, it is the largest tomb in the valley. |
| KV6 | Tomb of Ramesses IX. |
| KV7 | Tomb of Ramesses II. His mortuary temple is the Ramesseum. |
| KV8 | Tomb of Merenptah. |
| KV9 | Also known as the Tomb of Memnon or La Tombe de la Métempsychose, this is the tomb of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI. |
| KV10 | Tomb of Amenmesse. |
| KV11 | Tomb of Ramesses III (a.k.a. Bruce's Tomb, the Harper's Tomb). His mortuary temple is Medinet Habu. |
| KV12 | Occupant unknown; possibly used as a family tomb. |
| KV13 | Tomb of Bay and later Amenherkhepshef and Mentuherkhepshef. |
| KV14 | Tomb of Twosret, later reused by Setnakhte. |
| KV15 | Tomb of Seti II. |
| KV16 | Tomb of Ramesses I. |
| KV17 | Tomb of Seti I and is also known as Belzoni's tomb, the tomb of Apis, or the tomb of Psammis, son of Necho. |
| KV18 | Tomb of Ramesses X. |
| KV19 | Tomb of Mentuherkhepshef. |
| KV20 | This was originally the tomb of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I. |
| KV21, KV26, KV27, KV28, KV29 | The original owners of these tombs are unknown. |
| KV30 | Known as Lord Belmore's tomb; its original occupant remains unknown. |
| KV31 | The original owner of this tomb is unknown. |
| KV32 | Tomb of Tia'a. |
| KV33 | The original owner of this tomb is unknown. |
| KV34 | Tomb of Thutmose III. |
| KV35 | This tomb was originally the tomb of Amenhotep II. Over a dozen mummies, many of them royal, were relocated here. |
| KV36 | Tomb of the noble Maiherpri. |
| KV37 | The original owner of this tomb is unknown. |
| KV38 | Tomb of Thutmose I. |
| KV39 | Possibly the tomb of Amenhotep I. |
| KV40 | The original occupant of this tomb is unknown. |
| KV41 | The original owner of this tomb is unclear, but it may have been Tetisheri. |
| KV42 | Tomb of Hatshepsut-Meryetre. |
| KV43 | Tomb of Thutmose IV. |
| KV44 | The original occupant of this tomb is unknown. |
| KV45 | Tomb of the noble Userhet. |
| KV46 | Tomb of the nobles Yuya and Tjuyu, who were possibly the parents of Queen Tiy. Until the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the best preserved tomb to be found in the Valley. |
| KV47 | Tomb of Siptah. |
| KV48 | Tomb of the noble Amenemopet called Pairy. |
| KV49 | The original owner of this tomb is unknown, and it was possibly a store room. |
| KV50 | This tomb contains animal burials – which were possibly the pets of Amenhotep II, whose tomb is nearby. |
| KV51, KV52 and KV53 | These contained the burials of animals, and their precise location has been lost since their discovery. |
| KV54 | This was probably an embalming cache for the tomb of Tutankhamun. |
| KV55 | Tomb maybe another mummy cache, and has the possible burials of several Amarna Period royals – Tiy and Smenkhkare/Akhenaten. |
| KV56 | Known as the Gold Tomb; original owner unknown. |
| KV57 | Tomb of Horemheb. |
| KV58 | Known as Chariot Tomb; original owner unknown. |
| KV59 | The original occupant of this tomb is unknown. |
| KV60 | Tomb of Sitre In. |
| KV61 | Apparently unused. |
| KV62 | The Tomb of King Tutankhamun. |
| KVB – KVT | Non-burial pits, some of which may have been intended as tombs, others were probably funerary deposits. |
West Valley
The numbering of the West Valley follows in sequence to that of the East Valley, and there are only four known burials/pits in the valley.
| WV22 | This is the tomb of one of the greatest rulers of the Egyptian New Kingdom, Amenhotep III. It has recently been investigated, but is not open to the public. |
| WV23 | This is the tomb of Ay and is the only tomb that is open to the public in the West Valley. |
| WV24 | The original owner of this tomb is unknown. |
| WV25 | This tomb may have been started as the Theban burial of Akhenaten, but it was never finished. |
| WVA | This was a storage chamber for Amenhotep III's tomb which was located nearby. |
Deir el-Bahri
| DB320 | This tomb contained an astounding mummy cache. It is located in the cliffs overlooking Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri, was found to contain many of Egypt's most famous pharaohs. They were found in a great state of disorder, many placed in other people's coffins, and several are still unidentified. |
Quick Facts
| Names: | Valley of the Kings; "Place of Truth" |
| Type of site: | Egyptian tombs |
| Dates: | XVIII to late XX dynasty (1500s to 1000s BC) |
| Location: | Theban Necropolis, Theban Hills, West Bank, Luxor, Egypt |
| Hours: | Summer: daily 6am-5pm; winter 6am-4pm |
| Cost: | £E55 |
More Information
- Reviews of the Valley of the Kings - TripAdvisor traveler reviews and tips
- Theban Mapping Project – Includes detailed maps of most of the tombs.
- Maps and Aerial Photos of the Valley of the Kings — Kvaleberg.com
- Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis - UNESCO World Heritage List
