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The Vale of the Kings
The Vale of the Kings is a necropolis of the Ancient Egypt where there are the graves of most of the Pharaohs of the New Empire. It is part of the Antigua Tebas, declared a Patrimony of the Humanity for the UNESCO in 1979.
The place is formed by a series of gullets or ancient courses of water. Several graves of the Vale of the Kings remained opened from the antiquity, being victims of the vandalism of the Greeks and the Romans and even of the anger of the Christians. With the conquest of the Muslims, the vale had a rest stage, since something was forgotten and considered to be unnecessary. Up to the Napoleón arrival, very few expeditions were interested by this area, but the French explored the place and even identified some graves.
To length of the whole XIXth century and beginning of the XXth there were discovered some graves that had belonged to kings and there increased the interest in this necropolis and in the Egyptian world in general. In 1922, the secret best avoided the vale was discovered: the grave of Tutankamón, full of treasures and important archaeological finds.
At present, many of the graves are opened to the public.
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