Egypt opens restored tomb of scribe of Amun Neferhotep as new Luxor tourist attraction

Egypt has opened the restored tomb of Neferhotep, the scribe of Amun, as a new Luxor tourist attraction.

Dating back to the 18th Dynasty of 1550 to 1292 B.C. during the era of king Ay (1327 to 1323 B.C.), the burial chamber has taken more than two decades of painstaking work to return to its former condition.

Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, inaugurated the tomb in the Al-Khokha area on Luxor’s West Bank following completion of restoration by an Argentine mission affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires and headed by Violeta Pereyra under the council’s supervision.

The opening ceremony was also attended by Argentina’s envoy to Cairo and other representatives of the South American country.

Waziry noted that the tomb added an important new tourist destination to the attractions of the western mainland in Luxor with its array of detailed and colorful painted scenes and inscriptions.

Mohammed Abdel-Badie, head of the Central Administration for the Antiquities of Upper Egypt, said Neferhotep was one of the senior statesmen of his time, holding several titles including the scribe of Amun.

He noted that the importance of the tomb lay in its views and inscriptions, which illustrated the changes in funerary practices that occurred after the Amarna period of religious change, that saw the capital move from the north of Egypt to the south.

It also contains a statue of the owner of the cemetery and his wife, Meritamun, who was a vocalist for the god Amun.

Fathi Yassin, director general of antiquities in Upper Egypt, said that the tomb restoration and maintenance project began in 2000.