Tutankhamun's tomb and Howard Carter's house

Schiaparelli was responsible for the most beautiful tomb ever discovered, that of Queen Nefertari, and Howard Carter, in 1922, for that of Tutankhamen and his famous funerary mask, one of the wonders of this world.

And of course the pharaoh's sarcophagus in red quartzite containing the coffin of the divine king with his extraordinary funerary mask made of gold and enamel, 35 model ships and a statue of Anubis. There was enough gold in the vault to allow the pharaoh to live here for centuries.

In fact, this discovery was lucky enough to escape looting in the sense that its discovery by looters on two occasions was not followed by ransacking. The looters probably promised themselves that they would return better equipped to take the enormous treasure. The latter were surprised by the authorities of the time and condemned to an agonising death. As a result, although the tomb had already been discovered in ancient times, it had probably never been looted, and so it was opened as full as an egg, filled with untold treasures and relics. Among the treasures found were jewels, precious stones and jewels galore, unparalleled funerary fetishes, a gold-plated throne, a gold-covered reliquary topped with a cornice of sacred cobras, dismantled chariot parts and beds in the shape of animals.

Also in the room was an entirely gilded wooden statue of the pharaoh's elder sister, Merytaton, standing on a black panther. This unique statue is the property of the Cairo Museum. Under the mummified Tutankhamun's bandages, 200 objects were found, all of them precious, including a fascinating gold-handled dagger with a meteoric iron blade. Dozens of small bags of natron were spread all over the body to dry it out. The pharaoh was wearing his baby bonnet and necklaces of precious stones. In the room, we also found wooden boxes containing chickens and other meats, hundreds of figs from the doum palm and white calcite vases.

Howard Carter was a passionate man. He lived in Egypt for most of his life, from the time he came of age in the 1890s until the discovery of the famous tomb in 1922. He returned often to carry out restorations and a complete inventory of his discovery. The discovery had such a worldwide impact that Carter became something of a hero, as well as the archetypal bold, inspired and passionate archaeologist.

The camera of Harry Burton, the photographer who followed Carter in the discovery of the tomb and who photographed all the objects found for the inventory, is also there, at the entrance to the darkroom (photo laboratory). Here you can see a number of photos from before and after the discovery.

Outside, a café area has been set up for a mint tea or Turkish coffee. It is not always open.

Carter's house is on the road to Luxor, the road you will use to visit the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the Valley of the Queens and the Ramesseum. It is just before the crossroads leading to these 3 sites, when you arrive from the Nile.

In the event, it was originally a sort of well-equipped base camp where he worked. He would also meet there with workers or other collaborators to plan the excavations. Carter didn't live there as such; he had a middle-class house flanking the hill where it was a bit cooler. But it is here that you will visit the reconstitution of the burial chamber of the tomb where he unearthed all those treasures.

Of course, you can also visit the house, which has 6 rooms, 3 patios, 2 halls and a blind vestibule that once served as a photographic laboratory. In fact, for a long time, it was rumoured that this somewhat mythical house was to be transformed into a museum after Carter's death, but this laudable intention was not realised until much later, in the 2000s.

After restoration (the house had unfortunately been left in a state of disrepair), the furniture that had belonged to Carter was incorporated, along with books and kitchen utensils, as well as his working documents, a plan of the tomb, various notes and letters, and photographs of Carter taken at the time. In 2009, the house museum was finally inaugurated and the artefact of Tutankhamun's mythical tomb revealed to the public.

Its office area has the old-fashioned atmosphere of an era that has been over for a century now. There is a desk lamp with a green-tinted glass shade, an inkwell and letters from the period tucked under the coaster on the surface of the piece of furniture. On the left, a wall calendar with the date 22 December, the day Carter's patron received his note informing him of his amazing discovery, and a varnished wood TSF radio. Then a portable typewriter and an electric fan, at the cutting edge of technology at the time. And also walking sticks and hats.

Lascaux has its Lascaux II, Tutankhamun's tomb has its Tutankhamun II tomb. Behind Howard Carter's house, known as Castle Carter, at the entrance to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, is an identical reconstruction of the famous pharaoh's tomb. If you didn't have to access it via this property, you'd probably be unable to say you weren't in the original tomb.

Of course, not the entire tomb is reproduced here, with its long-concealed access staircase and corridor. But you will still be able to visit its burial chamber and treasure chamber, after passing through the antechamber, the essential passageway typical of the tombs of this dynasty. From here, Carter discovered the tomb and its riches after cutting a small hole in the wall separating it from the sarcophagus room.

Once in this room, you will discover the facsimile of the tomb and the murals as discovered by Howard Carter a century ago. On the west wall, 12 baboons in profile are painted in a grid, each expressing a different phrase. Then, on the side wall, divinities seem to be in deep discussion. Anubis, with his jackal head, is holding an ankh. Opposite him, Tutankhamun, wearing the Ourerèt crown and a false beard curled at the end, is shown with his grandfather, Aÿ, who came to bury him.