With some of the broadest corridors, longest shafts (117m) and greatest variety of decoration, KV 9 is one of the most spectacular tombs in the valley. Started by Ramses V and finished by Ramses VI, it is a feast for the eyes, much of its surface covered with intact hieroglyphs and paintings. The burial chamber has an unfinished pit in the floor and a magnificent figure of Nut and scenes from the Book of the Day and Book of the Night.
By Tijana Kostandovski
False Door of Mehu at Saqqara, 6th Dynasty;
It has an unusual style of decoration in which the limestone of the stela shows through dark red paint, which was used to simulate granite, highlighting the hieroglyphic text in yellow. This results in a wonderfully detailed piece of craftsmanship. The false door features a stela in a niche depicting the tomb owner eating from the offerings, and along the whole bottom of the false door are images of the standing tomb owner with his name.
By Tijana Kostandovski
King Ramses the great, at he Temple of Luxor in the heart of the ancient Thebes.
[EGYPT 29513] 'Outer hypostyle hall of Hathor Temple at Dendera.' The columns in the outer hypostyle hall (or pronaos) of the Hathor Temple at Dendera are crowned by four-sided capitals carved with the face of the cow-eared goddess. The faces symbolize the four cardinal points of the universe and stress the universal character of the sky goddess Hathor, who was also called "Lady with the four Faces". The square structure that is placed on top of the actual face is a sistrum, a ritual musical instrument that produced a rustling sound that was thought to please Hathor. The ceiling of the hall has recently been cleaned of soot and dust. One strip has been left uncleaned however and this is visible as a black zone in the upper half of the picture. This part of the Dendera Temple was built during the Roman period (first century AD). Photo Mick Palarczyk.
Temple d'Amon - Beit el-Wali
The temple was relocated during the 1960s as a result of the Aswan High Dam project and moved towards higher ground along with the Temple of Kalabsha. This rock-cut temple in Nubia was built by Pharaoh Ramesses II and dedicated to the deities of Amun-Re, Re-Horakhti, Khnum and Anuket. It was the first in a series of temples built by Ramesses II in this region; its name Beit el-Wali means 'House of the Holy Man' and may indicate its previous use by a Christian hermit at some point in time.