KV11

Tomb KV11 is the tomb of Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses III. Located in the main valley of the Valley of the Kings, the tomb was originally started by Setnakhte, but abandoned when it broke into the earlier tomb of Amenmesse (KV10). Setnakhte was buried in KV14. The tomb KV11 was restarted and extended and on a different axis for Ramesses III.

The tomb has been open since antiquity, and has been known variously as Bruce's Tomb (named after James Bruce who entered the tomb in 1768) and The Harper's Tomb (due to paintings of two blind harpers in the tomb).

Decoration

The 188-metre-long tomb is beautifully decorated.

The Second Corridor is decorated with the Litany of Re. At the end of this corridor the axis of the tomb shifts. This Third Corridor is decorated with the Book of Gates and the Book of Amduat, and leads over a ritual shaft, and then into a four-pillared hall. This hall is again decorated with the Book of Gates. A Fourth Corridor (decorated with scenes of the opening of the mouth ceremony and leads into a vestibule, with scenes of the Book of the Dead, and then into the burial chamber proper.