Warning
Sad news
Well, bad news... Nefertari's tomb continues to crumble, and I would say rapidly.
There is one wall in the side chamber [O], wall [O2], which has haunted me for many years; I could not restore one description. In November 2022, I have taken photos of O2 as accurately and closely as possible, as a whole and by sections. As a result, in January 2023, I finally restored the missing text. By chance I came across one of the illustrations of pillars from the tomb of Seti I, which gave me the direction of what exactly to look for, so I have finally found it. This very wall, which I couldn’t decipher for almost six years, has a special meaning to me now. In course of my January 2024 trip I went to “visit” this very place to take more photos.
While sorting out the photos to clarify other parts of the reconstruction, I’ve noticed some discrepancies on the same wall [O2]. At first, I thought I’ve made a mistake, but after looking at several photographs taken at different periods, I saw the clear dynamics that this wall was rapidly crumbling (please see the images of the process attached).
There is another place in the burial chamber [K], on the western wall [K3], with a special niche for placing a so-called ‘magic brick’. The rock is also starting to crumble little by little and even individual small pebbles are visible. Fortunately, the plaster is still holding. However, who knows how many more such areas are there in the tomb?
Dear colleagues and experts. I am aware of the power of social networks and rarely use it, but now the case is truly critical and demands us to pay closer attention to this problem and solve it. I know you have connections and weight to influence the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and UNESCO. We must not allow for such a treasure of culture, art, and architecture of the ancient world to simply vanish, lost in time. After all, Ancient Egypt is the cradle of our entire modern civilization, and the Tomb of Nefertari is one of the most prominent masterpieces of its time.