KV17 costs EGP 2,000 to enter — more than twice the price of any other tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and more than the standard entry ticket for the Valley itself. Most visitors who have seen it say it’s worth every pound.
At 137 meters, it’s the longest tomb in the Valley. Its relief carvings and paintings cover every surface with a completeness and precision unmatched anywhere in the Theban Necropolis. The colors in its completed sections are among the most vivid in the Valley — deep blue grounds, precisely rendered figures, gold leaf in places — and its unfinished sections reveal the entire sequence of how a New Kingdom royal tomb was made, from the first red sketch outlines through carving to final painting. No other single site in Luxor shows the range of ancient Egyptian funerary art and craft that KV17 contains.
It also plays a central role in the Luxor Pass calculation: the Premium Pass (USD $250) includes KV17, which by itself nearly covers its cost premium over the Standard Pass.
Who Was Seti I?
Seti I ruled from approximately 1294 to 1279 BCE as the second pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty. He was the father of Ramesses II — the pharaoh whose reign lasted 66 years and whose monuments dominate Luxor — but Seti I’s own achievements deserve independent attention.
Military campaigns: Seti I spent the early years of his reign re-establishing Egyptian control in the Levant, conducting campaigns in Syria and Canaan that recovered territories lost during the politically turbulent period following Akhenaten. His battle reliefs at Karnak Temple (the outer north wall of the Hypostyle Hall) are among the most detailed military records from the New Kingdom.
Building program: beyond KV17, Seti I commissioned the Temple of Seti I at Abydos — one of Egypt’s best-preserved temples, famous for the Abydos King List (a carved record of ruling pharaohs) and the Osireion behind it.
Reign length: Seti I’s reign of approximately 15 years gave him the time and resources to build and decorate KV17 to a level of completeness that shorter-reigning pharaohs couldn’t achieve. The difference between KV17 and the partially decorated KV15 (Seti II, who ruled for six years) makes this contrast concrete.
Discovery
Giovanni Battista Belzoni — the Italian explorer and antiquities dealer who opened more Valley tombs than any other individual in the early 19th century — discovered KV17 in 1817. He recorded his amazement at the preservation: walls that looked freshly painted, corridors extending further into the rock than anything he had previously encountered in the Valley. His name remains associated with the tomb in some literature.
The discovery also resulted in early damage: Belzoni removed the alabaster sarcophagus (now in the Soane Museum, London) and made plaster casts of the wall reliefs, processes that left marks still visible today. This is part of why access to KV17 is so tightly controlled — the tomb has been absorbing the consequences of that early enthusiasm ever since.
Architecture and Layout
KV17 runs 137 meters into the hillside following the Ramesside design: a sequence of descending corridors and halls leading to the burial chamber, with side chambers branching off the main axis.
Corridors A–F: the main descent, decorated with the Litany of Ra at the entrance, the Book of Gates through the middle sections, and the Amduat as the corridor approaches the burial hall. The relief quality in these sections is exceptional — figures carved with a delicacy and depth that painting alone can’t achieve.
Side chambers and “Hall of Beauties”: KV17’s side chambers contain unusually diverse imagery including a remarkable series of deities and mythological scenes that gave one chamber the name “Hall of Beauties” in early documentation.
The unfinished sections: in the deeper parts of the tomb, work was interrupted or left incomplete — possibly because Seti I died before completion, with Ramesses II finishing aspects of the burial. These sections are the clearest demonstration in Egypt of the New Kingdom tomb-decoration sequence:
- The walls were plastered and the design laid out in red paint by the sketch master
- The lead artist corrected and refined in black paint (both correction strokes are visible)
- Stonemasons carved along the corrected outlines
- Painters applied color in a fixed sequence
- A final outline reinforced the carved edges
All five stages are visible in different parts of KV17. No completed tomb can show this sequence; only an interrupted one can.
The burial chamber: vaulted, with an astronomical ceiling showing the Book of the Night (Nut swallowing and rebirthing the sun) and decan star charts. Seti I’s alabaster sarcophagus — the most elaborate ever found in the Valley — was removed by Belzoni and is in London; the empty chamber is still impressive in scale.
The Decorative Program in Full
KV17 contains the most complete single-tomb assembly of New Kingdom funerary texts:
- Litany of Ra (entrance corridors): the 75 forms of the sun god, affirming the pharaoh’s identity with Ra
- Book of Gates: the sun’s passage through the underworld’s twelve gates
- Amduat: the twelve-hour night journey map
- Book of the Dead: protective spells
- Opening of the Mouth ritual: restoring the king’s senses for the afterlife
- Book of the Heavenly Cow: a myth of cosmic catastrophe and renewal, one of the rarer texts
- Astronomical ceiling: Book of the Night and decan star charts in the burial chamber
For visitors with an interest in Egyptian religion or funerary literature, KV17 is a comprehensive reference in physical form.
Conservation
KV17 faces significant conservation challenges. The limestone bedrock in this section of the Valley is relatively soft and has absorbed moisture over the millennia; salt crystallization from within the rock pushes plaster surfaces outward. The number of visitors the tomb received before access was restricted contributed measurably to this problem.
The Theban Mapping Project (thebanmappingproject.com) has conducted systematic 3D documentation of KV17’s architecture, providing a permanent digital record independent of the physical state of the tomb. International conservation teams continue stabilization work on the most vulnerable wall sections.
Visitor numbers are carefully limited. Photography inside KV17 is not permitted — this is one of the strictest photography restrictions in the Valley, applied uniformly regardless of permit status.
Visiting KV17
| Entry ticket | EGP 2,000 (foreign adult) — note: the student rate for KV17 is also EGP 2,000, the only tomb in the Valley where student and adult rates are identical |
|---|---|
| Hours | 6:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Photography | Not permitted inside KV17 under any circumstances |
| Time needed | 45–60 minutes to walk the full length at a considered pace |
| Accessibility | Long descent with steps and uneven surfaces throughout; not suitable for limited mobility visitors |
Booking note: KV17 tickets can sell out during peak season (December–February). If this is a priority visit, purchase your ticket at the Valley of the Kings ticket office as early in the morning as possible. For current ticket categories and site hours, see Luxor Entrance Fees.