Tomb of Rekhmire
Rekhmire was a governor of Thebes during the reigns of Tuthmosis
III and his son Amenophis II. His tomb is one of more than 500 found
in the Valley of the Nobles in ancient Thebes. Like most such tombs,
Rekhmire's featured a reverse T shape, with a shallow front chamber
followed by a long inner corridor. His is one of the finest painted
tombs in the Theban necropolis.
You begin facing east towards the door to the outside and the
unseen entrance chamber (which forms the top of the T). After
workmen finished carving this corridor, which slopes higher as one
moves farther into the tomb, they prepared the wall surface with a
mixture of earth and straw overlaid with a layer of plaster. Artists
then painted scenes both from Rekhmire's life and funeral
procession, and of the craftsmen whose efforts he oversaw:
carpenters, goldsmiths, sculptors, masons, and many others.
As you spin around, zoom in closer to examine the fine paintings.
See if you can make out the painted pair of small funerary obelisks,
which Egyptians of the 18th Dynasty often placed before their tombs
in honor of the sun god. At the opposite (western) end of the tomb,
notice the empty niche, where statues of Rekhmire and his wife
likely once stood.