Amenhotep III Tomb Reopens in Luxor Ahead of Grand Egyptian Museum

Egypt reopened the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Luxor on Saturday to the public after more than two decades of restoration, officials said, marking a high-profile cultural event timed ahead of the Grand Egyptian Museum's scheduled inauguration in Cairo next month. The carved royal tomb, one of the largest in the Valley of the Kings on the Nile's west bank opposite Luxor, was unveiled by Egypt's tourism and antiquities officials after a lengthy international conservation effort.

The tomb dates to the 14th century BCE and belonged to Amenhotep III, a prominent ruler of the 18th Dynasty whose reign is associated with wealth, stability and artistic achievement. It begins with a downward-sloping passage roughly 36 meters long and 14 meters deep and opens into a main burial chamber for the king and two additional chambers believed to have been intended for his wives, Queens Tiye and Sitamun. Wall paintings show the pharaoh among ancient Egyptian deities, and the burial chamber contains inscriptions and scenes from funerary texts commonly known as the Book of the Dead, officials said.

Egyptian antiquities authorities and international partners led a Japanese-led, three-phase...