Egypt opened a tomb of a pharaoh to visitors on Saturday after more than two decades of renovation in the southern city of Luxor, as it prepares for the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The huge tomb of Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt between 1390 B.C. and 1350 B.C., is located on the western side of the famed Valley of the Kings. It was founded in 1799 by two people, and its contents were looted, including the sarcophagus, Egyptian antiquities authorities said.
It has been under a Japanese-led, three-phase restoration project for the past two decades, including the renovation of paintings of the pharaoh and his wife on the tomb walls, said Mohamed Ismail, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
"It’s a very fascinating tomb,” he told The Associated Press (AP) at the scene, adding that it includes a frame of the stolen sarcophagus box, with the lid in place where it would have been.
The tomb starts with a 36-meter (118-foot)-long, 14-meter (45-foot)-deep, downward-sloping passageway beneath the Valley of the Kings. It includes a main burial chamber for the king and two other chambers for his wives, Queens Tiye and Sitamun.
Unlike other ancient tombs in the valley, the tomb is not fully decorated, Ismail said. Its paintings depict Amenhotep III alongside a group of ancient Egyptian gods, and the burial chamber features inscriptions of scenes from the Book of the Dead, a collection of spells designed to guide the dead through the underworld in ancient Egypt.
The mummy of Amenhotep III was moved by ancient priests to the tomb of his grandfather, Amenhotep II, also in the Valley of the Kings, according to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The severely damaged mummy is showcased at the museum along with 16 other mummies of 17 kings and queens from ancient Egypt.
Amenhotep III was one of the most prominent pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, which ruled from approximately 1550 B.C. to 1292 B.C. Known as Amenhotep the Great, he ascended the throne as a teenager and ruled for up to 38 years, according to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
The tomb's reopening occurred less than a month before the official inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, located near the Giza Pyramids. The museum is scheduled to open on Nov. 1.
The reopenings are part of Egypt’s efforts to attract more foreign visitors to revive the tourism sector, a major source of foreign currency. Tourism, which heavily relies on Egypt’s rich pharaonic artifacts, suffered a prolonged downturn following the political turmoil and violence that ensued after the 2011 uprising.
