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Photo: Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The burial place of Servant in the Place of Truth Sennedjem and his family. It was found undisturbed in 1886.
TT1 is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian official Sennedjem and members of his family in Deir el-Medina, on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. The funerary complex consists of three pyramid-shaped chapels dedicated to, from south to north, Sennedjem's father or brother, Sennedjem himself, and Sennedjem's son Khonsu. Of the three shafts associated with the chapels, only the shaft in front of Sennedjem's chapel was unrobbed. It leads to a series of underground rooms, including the extensively decorated burial chamber.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Originally called Set Maat (the Place of Truth), the village was built to house the Royal tombs' workforce of literate priest-craftsmen (the "Servants in the Place of Truth"), on the reign of Amenhotep I, the community's patron, worshipped here along his mother Ahmose-Nefertari. Its abundant domestic and written remains (thousands of ostraca) make it the very best-studied Ancient Egypt community to date.
QV66
The Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II's tomb was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli (the director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin) in 1904. It is often called the Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt. Often closed for restoration through long periods, as of January 2026 the tomb is closed.
The tomb of a famous Scribe in the Place of Truth. It consists of a court and a chapel. The chapel is decorated with scenes showing Amenhotep I, Ahmose Nefertari, Horemheb and Tuthmosis IV. Another scene shows King Ramesses II followed by the vizier Paser offering before the Theban Triad: Amun, Mut and Khonsu
Found immediately adjacent to the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Merneptah (the 13th son and eventual successor to the long-lived Ramesses II) was re-opened in 2002 as a new attraction after the careful and effective reconstruction of the temple foundations and lower courses by a Swiss archaeological team. (The temple was first excavated by the famous English Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1904 and was the scene of his discovery of the so-called Israel Stela, featuring the earliest recorded mention of Israel in ancient sources, now to be seen in Cairo's Egyptian Museum). Although not featuring the inscribed wall reliefs and towering columns associated with many Egyptian temples, the Merneptah temple nonetheless now provides an unsurpassed impression of the layout of a 19th dynasty funerary temple with many interesting architectural details. A small partly-subterranean museum is also to be found on site, in which many of the magnificent painted reliefs and sculpture (many usurped by Merneptah from the nearby Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III) are displayed. Sadly neglected by many visitors to the West Bank, the site and museum are nonetheless well worth a visit.