| Valley of the Queens وادي الملكات (Arabic) Ta-Set-Neferu (Egyptian) | |
|---|---|
 General view of the Valley of the Queens | |
| Location | Luxor, Egypt |
| Coordinates | 25°43′39″N 32°35′35″E / 25.72750°N 32.59306°E |
| Official name | Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iii, vi |
| Designated | 1979 (third session) |
| Reference no. | 87 |
| Region | Arab states |
  Location within Egypt | |
| Valley of the Queens in hieroglyphs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ta-set-neferu T3-st-nfrw The place of beauty | ||||||||
The Valley of the Queens (Arabic: وادي الملكات Wādī al-Malekāt) is a site in Egypt, in which queens, princes, princesses, and other high ranking officials were buried. Pharaohs themselves were buried in the Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Queens was known anciently as Ta-Set-Neferu, which has a double meaning of "The Place of Beauty" and/or "the Place of the Royal Children".[1] Excavation of the tombs at the Valley of the Queens was pioneered by Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini in the early 1900s.[2]
The Valley of the Queens consists of the main wadi, which contains most of the tombs, along with the Valley of Prince Ahmose, the Valley of the Rope, the Valley of the Three Pits, and the Valley of the Dolmen. The main wadi contains 91 tombs and the subsidiary valleys add another 19 tombs. The burials in the subsidiary valleys all date to the 18th Dynasty.[3]
The reason for choosing the Valley of the Queens as a burial site is not known. The close proximity to the workers' village of Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings may have been a factor. Another consideration could have been the existence of a sacred grotto dedicated to Hathor at the entrance of the Valley. This grotto may have been associated with rejuvenation of the dead.[3]
Along with the Valley of the Kings and nearby Thebes, the Valley of the Queens was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.[4]
- ^ "The Valley of the Queens and the Western Wadis". Theban Mapping Project.
- ^ "Schiaparelli, Ernesto". Theban Mapping Project.
- ^ a b Demas, Martha, and Neville Agnew, eds. 2012. Valley of the Queens Assessment Report: Volume 1. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Conservation Institute. Getty Conservation Institute, link to article
- ^ "Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 7 September 2021.