KV9 sits directly above the Tomb of Tutankhamun. This isn’t incidental — it’s the reason KV62 survived intact for 3,200 years. When workers cut and expanded KV9, the debris and stone chips from the construction piled up at the base of the cliff, burying KV62’s entrance. Ancient tomb robbers never found it. Howard Carter’s team, working systematically through the Valley in 1922, dug through that debris and found the steps.
The tomb above — KV9, the Tomb of Ramesses VI — is one of the most extensively decorated in the Valley of the Kings. Its burial chamber ceiling is consistently described as the finest astronomical ceiling in any royal tomb: the sky goddess Nut in vivid blue, swallowing and rebirthing the sun through a cosmic cycle painted with unusual completeness and clarity. The rest of the tomb matches this ceiling’s ambition.
History: Two Pharaohs, One Tomb
KV9 was begun by Ramesses V and significantly expanded and completed by his uncle, Ramesses VI — a pattern of tomb appropriation common in the Valley when a pharaoh died before his burial chamber was finished or when a successor judged an existing excavation more convenient than starting fresh.
Ramesses V died around 1143 BCE after a short four-year reign. He had begun KV9 but completed only the first sections of the corridor.
Ramesses VI (r. 1143–1136 BCE) inherited both the throne and the unfinished tomb. He extended the corridors significantly, added the astronomical ceiling program, and installed his own burial equipment. The tomb is effectively his in terms of decoration — Ramesses V’s cartouches appear in the earlier sections, Ramesses VI’s in the later ones.
Both pharaohs were sons or grandsons of Ramesses III, and KV9 represents the continuation of the 20th Dynasty’s building program during a period of political decline.
Architecture: 104 Meters to the Burial Chamber
KV9 runs approximately 104 meters in a straight line from entrance to burial chamber — one of the longer standard-entry tombs in the Valley. The design is the classic late Ramesside type: a series of descending corridors leading through antechambers to the burial hall, with each section progressively more decorated and restricted in ancient ritual use.
The corridors are wide enough to comfortably accommodate visitors moving in both directions — a practical advantage that makes KV9 one of the more pleasant tombs to walk through.
The Decorative Program
KV9’s walls carry one of the most comprehensive assemblages of funerary texts in the Valley:
- Book of Gates: the sun god Ra’s passage through the twelve gates of the underworld, guarded by serpents and attended by divine beings who challenge and assist him.
- Book of Caverns: structured around six caverns through which the solar barque passes, with elaborate punishment scenes for the enemies of the dead and rewards for the righteous.
- Amduat (Book of the Hidden Chamber): the twelve-hour night journey in its most complete visual form, with the underworld’s population of gods, demons, and the dead depicted in systematic detail.
- Book of the Dead: protective spells for the pharaoh’s soul, interspersed throughout the corridor program.
The colors in KV9 are exceptionally well-preserved — deep blues, bright golds, and reds that have retained their intensity across three millennia. The pigment quality and the relatively stable microclimate of this section of the Valley both contribute to this preservation.
The Burial Chamber: The Astronomical Ceiling
The burial chamber is the destination the entire corridor program builds toward. On its ceiling, the sky goddess Nut arches in two registers — one showing her swallowing the sun (evening, death), one showing her giving birth to it (morning, rebirth). The cycle is the cosmological foundation of Egyptian funerary belief: the sun’s nightly death and daily resurrection is the template for the pharaoh’s own expected resurrection.
The ceiling’s execution is unusually complete for a royal tomb. Both registers of the Nut program are present; the star-map details are clear; the divine figures accompanying the solar barque through its night journey are individually identifiable. Standing beneath it — particularly if the chamber is not crowded — is one of the more singular experiences in Luxor.
The sarcophagus that once stood at the chamber’s center was smashed in antiquity (standard procedure for ancient tomb robbers extracting the mummy). Its fragments remain in place.
Visiting KV9
KV9 has historically been included in the standard Valley of the Kings ticket rotation as one of the most reliably open and most visited tombs. Confirm current status at the ticket office.
- Entry
- Separate special entry ticket Foreigners: EGP 220/ Student: EGP 110 – Egyptians: Adults: EGP 30 / Student: EGP 10
- Hours
- 6:00 AM – 5:00 PM
- Photography permit
- Required for personal photography; flash strictly prohibited to protect the pigments
- Time needed
- 25–35 minutes
- Accessibility
- Straight wide corridors; gentle slope; one of the more accessible royal tombs in the Valley
The Tutankhamun connection: if you’re visiting KV62 (Tutankhamun) on the same visit, exit KV9 and look at the ground at the base of the cliff directly below the entrance — this is approximately where the debris from KV9’s construction buried KV62’s staircase for 3,200 years.
Combining visits: KV11 (Ramesses III — KV9’s predecessor in the 20th Dynasty) and KV6 (Ramesses IX — the dynasty’s later phase) are the natural companions for a 20th Dynasty itinerary.