The air is amazingly still and cool, even in midsummer, stars twinkle on the dark blue ceiling, and the brighdy colored figures on the walls stand frozen midscene like players in a perpemal drama on a stage where time has stopped. This so-called house of eteraity in the Valley of the Queens was the burial place of Ramses IFs favorite wife, Nefertari, “The Most Beautiful of Them.” Following tradition, the tomb’s wall paintings represented far more than mere decoration; They were intended as magical depictions of the rituals necessary for achieving everlasting life in the nether world. To ensure, then, a speedy and certain transition to immortality for the revered queen, artists of ancient Thebes created 5,600 square feet of images—among the most exquisite in Egypt. Indeed, the paintings, with their vivid depictions of Nefertari on her quest for eternity, her face subtly carved into the plaster and shaded for depth (above), exhibit a degree of realism rarely seen in Egyptian art.
The Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli discovered the looted tomb in 1904, empty except for a few small artifacts and in a state of disrepair. Carved from poor-quality limestone 40 feet below ground, the walls had to be plastered to ensure a smooth and even surface for the artists. Over the centuries, the plaster began to separate from the rock, and the paint peeled, flaked, and chipped. Although some repairs were made after the tomb’s discovery, the deterioration accelerated until the 1980s, when a study estimated that one-fifth of the murals were irreparably damaged. In 1986 the Egyptian Antiquities Organization (EAO) teamed up with the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) of Los Angeles in a multinational effort to preserve, but not reconstruct, this remarkable piece of Egypt’s patrimony. The fascinating story' of that effort is told on the following pages.
World History
