Theban Tomb TT71 is located in the

Theban Necropolis The Theban Necropolis () is a necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes, Egypt, Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Ancient Egypt, Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom of Egyp ...

, on the west bank of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

, opposite to

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

. It was the tomb chapel of Senenmut, who was the steward and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut ( ; BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from until (Low Chronology) and the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She was Egypt's second c ...

. The chapel is located in the necropolis area around

Sheikh Abd el-Qurna The necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna () is located on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt, Thebes in Upper Egypt. It is part of the archaeological area of Deir el-Bahari, and named after the domed tomb of the local saint. This is the most frequently v ...

. Previously (for about 100 years) the tomb was accessible and for most of this time the target of numerous investigations and intrusions, although early on already heavily destroyed. The tomb was visited already early. In the first half of the nineteenth century, John Gardner Wilkinson, Robert Hay and J. Wild copied scenes, although the decoration was already badly destroyed.

Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius (; 23 December 181010 July 1884) was a Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his opus magnum ''Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien''. Early life Karl Richard Lepsius was the ...

(1842–45) took the

false door A false door, or recessed niche, is an artistic representation of a door which does not function like a real door. They can be carved in a wall or painted on it. They are a common architectural element in the tombs of ancient Egypt, but appeared p ...

to Berlin and copied some inscribed bricks. Only in 1906

Kurt Sethe Kurt Heinrich Sethe (30 September 1869 – 6 July 1934) was a German Egyptologist and philologist from Berlin. He was a student of Adolf Erman. Sethe collected numerous texts from Egypt during his visits there and edited the '' Urkunden de ...

copied all inscriptions. In 1930–31 Herbert Winlock cleared the whole tomb. Winlock found the fragments of a smashed sarcophagus. Today the tomb chapel's decoration is almost totally gone. With its dimensions it is one of the biggest Theban chapels of the

18th Dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

. The facade is about 30 meter wide. In the middle there is the entrance and on either side there are four niches with windows. The inner of the chapel has an (upside-down) T-shaped plan. The transverse hall is about 26 m long and supported by eight columns. At the back there are several small niches. In the hall appears the oldest depictions of Minoans in Egypt so far known. There are also remains of soldiers under a Hathor frieze and a biographical inscription. After the transverse hall follows a long passage with a niche at the end. Only few remains of the decoration survived, such as an offering list and a banquet scene, where Senenmut is once shown with his mother and once with his father. A special feature only known from this tomb are several rock cut

stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

providing the name and titles of Senenmut. Above the chapel, cut into the rocks, there is a block statue of Senenmut. It has always been a matter of confusion that Senenmut had two tombs. However, in the 18th Dynasty several high officials had one decorated tomb chapel and a second tomb with an underground burial chamber often not even close to the chapel. In some cases it can be assumed that they even had an undecorated burial chamber in the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, is an area in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and power ...

, while a decorated chapel closer to the fertile land. The burial chamber of Senenmut was found at

Deir el-Bahri Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri (, , ) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis. History Deir el-Bahari, located on the west ...

TT353 and is sometimes called Senenmut's 'secret tomb', as it has no chapel, which was in fact TT71.Dorman: '' The Monuments of Senenmut'', pp. 108–09 TT71 functioned most likely also as chapel for Senenmut's parents, who were buried close by and are depicted in the chapel.

Gallery

File:Senenmut-CeilingPaintingsFromTombChapel01 MetropolitanMuseum.png, Painting from the ceiling from TT71 Metropolitan Museum of Art. File:Senenmut-CeilingPaintingsFromTombChapel03 MetropolitanMuseum.png, Diamond shaped pattern from the ceiling from TT71 Metropolitan Museum of Art. File:Senenmut-CeilingPaintingsFromTombChapel02 MetropolitanMuseum.png, Painting from the ceiling of the tomb, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:TT071 Buildings and structures completed in the 15th century BC Theban tombs

Gallery

See also

References