Inside the Tomb of Menna
A guided tour
Welcome to the tomb of Menna, in the Valley of the Nobles, outside Luxor, Egypt.
This tomb is one of the most spectactularly decorated and well-preserved tombs yet discovered.
The paintings here are vibrant yellows, reds, and blues without compare.
Menna's tomb is located in the Valley of the Nobles on the West Bank of modern day Luxor.
The noble people were buried here next to the royal tombs in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens.
This elaborately-decorated tomb was built for a man named Menna over 3,000 years ago.
Menna was an important official that managed operations of the kingdom in the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.
When Menna was buried here, the tomb would have been packed with offerings for Menna to take into the afterlife.
The layout follows a traditional t-shape pattern as many tombs in the time period.
Photograph of offerings in the Tomb of Tutankhamun in the nearby Valley of the Kings.
The walls of the tomb are painted with scenes of the life of Menna and people bringing him and his wife, Henuttawy.
They have been restored to their original colors and conserved to protect them for future generations.
Here, we see Menna and his wife making offerings to the Ancient Egyptian god of death, Osiris.
They present these offerings so that Osiris will welcome them into the afterlife.
On this wall, we see the farms and pastures that Menna managed during his life.
Menna held many titles, such as the Overseer of the Fields and Scribe.
Above, you can see this gorgeous geometric patterned ceiling that has been conserved by archaeologists.
The colors here are still incredibly bright as they would have been 3,000 years ago.
On this wall, the children of Menna and Henuttawy are bringing them offerings.
For an unknown reason, in his tomb, the faces of Menna have been removed. It's possible that there were bad circumstances after his death.
Here, Menna and his wife are shown honoring Horus and Osiris in a false door painted as a stela.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that the spirit of the person buried here could pass through the false door into the afterlife.
The coffin containing Menna would have been placed here, underneath the statue of him and his wife that you can see at the end of the hall.
Menna was buried here with many offerings such those painted on the walls.
Inside this chamber, you can see scenes of the process of burying Menna here.
To the left you can see a funeral procession bringing Menna's mummy and offerings by boat across the Nile to be buried.
To the right, you can see the rituals that priests performed to mummify Menna's body.
These included opening the mouth of Menna's mummy so that he could eat, drink, and breathe in the afterlife.
Menna and his family are shown hunting and fishing in this beautifully-painted scene.
The fish in the middle is a tilapia, an important symbol associated with rebirth.
At the far end of the tomb, we have one of the most important scenes in the tomb: the weighing of the heart of Menna.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that to pass into the afterlife, you had to weigh your heart on a scale opposite a feather. Only if your heart was as light as the feather, and guilt-free, could you pass into the afterlife.
On the left, the figure of Menna appears before the scale and Osiris for judgement.
His heart is in the jar on the left-hand side of the scale opposite a feather, painted as a goddess. Horus holds the scale and Thoth records the results above.
This broken statue at the back of the tomb is of Menna and Henuttawy.
Ancient Egyptians would visit the tombs to communicate with the dead through these sculptures or at least leave offerings.
We're able to visit and see these incredible paintings today because of the restoration work done by archaeologists in recent years.
Ultraviolet light was used to examine the walls as you see here to analyze the paintings without ever having to touch them.
Thanks for visiting the Tomb of Menna in the Valley of the Nobles!
To continue exploring Egypt's layered history, make sure to visit the Aslam al-Silahdir Mosque next.
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