Akhenaten’s tomb (No 26) is in a ravine about 12km up the Royal Valley (Wadi Darb Al Malek), which divides the north and south sections of the cliffs and where the sun was seen to rise each dawn. It is similar in design and proportions to the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings but with several burial chambers. The tomb decoration was painted on plaster, most of which has fallen, so very little remains.
The right-hand chamber has damaged reliefs of Akhenaten and his family worshipping Aten. A raised rectangular outline in the burial chamber once held the sarcophagus, which is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (after being returned from Germany).
A well-laid road leads up the bleak valley. The guard will need to start up the tomb’s generator before allowing you inside. Akhenaten himself was probably not buried here, although members of his family certainly were. Some believe he was buried in KV 55 in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, where his sarcophagus was discovered. The whereabouts of his mummy remains are a mystery.
