| KV11 | |
|---|---|
| Burial site ofRamesses III | |
 | |
  KV11 | |
| Coordinates | 25°44′23.6″N32°36′03.9″E / 25.739889°N 32.601083°E /25.739889; 32.601083 |
| Location | East Valley of the Kings |
| Discovered | Open since antiquity |
| Excavated by | Unknown |
| Decoration | Litany of Re; Book of Gates; Book of Amduat; Opening of the mouth ceremony; Book of the Dead |
← Previous KV10 Next → KV12 | |
Tomb KV11 is the tomb ofPharaohRamesses III. It is located in the main valley of theValley of the Kings. The tomb was originally started bySetnakhte, but abandoned when it unintentionally broke into the earlier tomb ofAmenmesse (KV10). Setnakhte was buried inKV14. The tomb KV11 was later restarted and extended and on a different axis for Ramesses III.
The tomb has been open since antiquity, and has been known variously as "Bruce's Tomb" (named afterJames Bruce who entered the tomb in 1768) and the "Harper's Tomb" (due to paintings of two blind harpers in the tomb).
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The 188 m (617 ft) long tomb is beautifully decorated.
The second corridor is decorated with theLitany of Re. At the end of this corridor the axis of the tomb shifts. This third corridor is decorated with theBook of Gates and theBook of Amduat, and leads over a ritual shaft, and then into a four-pillared hall. This hall is again decorated with theBook of Gates. A fourth corridor decorated with scenes of theopening of the mouth ceremony leads into avestibule, with scenes of theBook of the Dead, and then into the burial chamber.
The burial chamber is an eight-pillared hall in which stood the redquartzitesarcophagus (the box of which is now in theLouvre, while its lid is in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge).[1] This chamber is decorated withBook of Gates, divine scenes and theBook of the Earth. Beyond this is a further set of annexes decorated with theBook of Gates. The outside of the sarcophagus features two scenes from the Amduat.[2]
The tomb was first mentioned by an English travelerRichard Pococke in the 1730s, but its first detailed description was given by James Bruce in 1768. Preliminary scientific studies were made by French scholars, who had come to Egypt withNapoleon, and then by, among others,J. F. Champollion,R. Lepsius, and in the 19th century, G. Lefebure.[3] In 1959, theEgyptian Department of Antiquities asked a Polish Egyptologist,Dr. Tadeusz Andrzejewski, to document the tomb. He started work under the auspices of thePolish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw but soon died. Twenty years later, the task of completing the documentation was given to Dr. Marek Marciniak.[4] The introduction of martial law in Poland hindered the publication of the results of his study. Since 2017, a German expedition from theHumboldt University and the Egyptian universities inLuxor andQena work on the site. Apart from documenting the tomb, they also conduct conservation works.[1]
