The Middle Kingdom tomb of Meru, the oldest publicly accessible site on Luxor’s West Bank and home to some of its most spectacular Pharaonic monuments, including the Valley of the Kings, has been restored, documented, and opened to tourists by Egypt.
According to a statement released by the ministry on Thursday, February 9, Meru was a high-ranking official at the court of 11th Dynasty King Mentuhotep II, who ruled until 2004 BC and was also buried at the North Asasif necropolis.
The Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw and Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities restored Meru’s rock-hewn tomb.
“This is the first site from such an early period in Western Thebes to be made accessible to visitors,” the ministry statement quoted Fathi Yassin, General Director of Antiquities in Upper Egypt, as saying.
The tomb, which faced the procession avenue to Mentuhotep II’s temple, contains a corridor leading to an offering chapel with a niche for a statue of the deceased. A burial shaft descends to a burial chamber with a sarcophagus.
“This is the only decorated room of the tomb, with an unusual decoration of painting on lime plaster,” Yassin said.
According to the Polish Egyptian archaeological mission, knowledge of Meru’s tomb dates back to at least the middle of the 19th century. Some of the wall paintings were cleaned by Italian conservators in 1996.
The statement claimed that some of the most prominent officials of the Middle Kingdom were burried at North Asasif.
Author-Roberta Appiah
