In the Tomb of Nefertari

Ancient Egypt

Love and Death in The Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt

Like many travelers before us, my friend and I flew to Egypt to see the Great Pyramids. But further south, in the city of Luxor, there are other great wonders beneath the surface. I speak of the tombs.

These places are shockingly colorful. They pit your wonder against your ability to endure the desert heat. You think the descent into the earth to explore will take you someplace cool as a cave, but no. It gets warmer. Sweat slips down your body while crowds slip by you. Guards bother you with basic facts and flirtation in the hope of tips. But don’t worry. The wonder of Ancient Egyptian tombs is enough to keep you underground.

These expansive tombs hold an astonishing amount of hallways, rooms, and chambers. Every wall is complexly painted, floor to ceiling, in Ancient Egyptian concepts. Inside them, you pass by beast-headed gods and goddesses — hieroglyphs — pictures of the dead — and more, over every inch. Except the ceilings. Those are usually painted with golden night stars on smooth dark blue.

All the tombs are mind-boggling. That’s true even of the relatively humble tomb of physically tiny King Tutankhamen.

If you want to know how standing in an ancient Egyptian tomb feels, listen to Siouxsie and the Banshees’ music. For me, that music and those tombs elicit similar feelings: feelings eerie, distinct, evocative, and mystical, yet still, of the senses.

But among all the wondrous tombs in Egypt, only one touched my heart.

The Tomb of Nefertari alone brought a tear to my eye. You’ll need to see it with your mind’s eye and know some of the history behind it to know why.

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