Nakht's tomb
The blind harpist and the cat.
Ovedc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States — CC0 · Chabe01 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maler der Grabkammer des Nacht — Public domain · Chabe01 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ovedc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Unknown authorUnknown author — Public domain · Kyle Taylor — CC BY 2.0
A necropolis on the slopes of the West Bank hills, the largest group of private tombs in ancient Thebes and the most visited, where viziers, scribes and senior officials of the New Kingdom were buried. Their paintings differ from the royal tombs, showing daily life rather than religious texts alone. Tickets are sold for groups of tombs: Menna and Nakht, with Menna, scribe of the fields, shown at harvest and hunting in the marshes, and Nakht with his famous banquet scene of a blind harpist and a cat eating a fish; and Rekhmire and Sennefer, with Rekhmire, vizier of Thutmose III, among crafts and tribute from distant lands, and Sennefer's, known as the Tomb of the Vines for its ceiling painted with bunches of grapes. There is also the tomb of Ramose, vizier under Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, with fine raised reliefs that join the traditional style with the first signs of Amarna art. A foreign visitor pays between about one hundred and twenty and two hundred Egyptian pounds per group according to the ministry list, and it opens from six to five. It is far less crowded than the Valley of the Kings, and some tombs need short climbs up the slope.
The blind harpist and the cat.
A grape-hung ceiling.
The dawn of Amarna art.
Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, West Bank, Luxor
RamesseumThe memorial temple of Ramesses II on Luxor's West Bank, built to keep his memor4 minutes walk
Deir el-Medina (Workers' Village)The village of the craftsmen and artists who cut and decorated the royal tombs i11 minutes walk
Temple of HatshepsutThe mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, set into the foot of an immense rock cl11 minutes walk4.6
Colossi of MemnonTwo enormous stone figures standing alone in an open field beside the west bank 14 minutes walk4.5
Valley of the KingsThe royal necropolis of the New Kingdom — a rock valley on the west bank where E16 minutes walk4.7Menna and Nakht for the famous daily-life scenes, and Rekhmire and Sennefer for the grape ceiling and craft scenes; the two groups are close together.