Fodor's Expert Review Deir el-Medina (Workers' Village)

In its own small valley, Deir el-Medina is where the artisans in charge of building and decorating the royal tombs lived. The site includes the stone walls of their otherwise ruined houses, small but vibrantly decorated tombs, and a small temple. The workers showed off their skills in their own burial chambers, applying the technical and artistic mastery they used on their employers' projects to their own.

Claustrophobes beware: these tombs are much more compact than the royal tombs and have low ceilings that some people will not be able to stand upright in. They're also accessed by incredibly steep staircases and narrow corridors.

One of the most astonishing burial spaces in this area is the Tomb of Sennutem (TT 1), who was an artist during the reigns of Seti I and Ramses II. The paintings on the walls of the burial chamber look as if they were just completed. A striking scene is the god Anubis tending to a mummy on a lion-headed bed surrounded by texts from the Book of the Dead. On the ceilings are several depictions of the deceased, kneeling in adoration before the gods.

The Tomb of Inherkha (TT 359) has beautifully painted ceilings of a repeating cow head and sun disk motif, as well as scenes from the Book of the Dead and the Book of the Gates. Inherkha was chief workman for Ramses III and Ramses IV, and he's shown making offerings to rows of seated pharaohs.

The Family Tomb is the most complex of the group and consists of three connected chambers for Amennakht (TT 218) and his two sons Nebenmaat (TT 219) and Khaemteri (TT 220). Popping out from the lemon yellow background are mummified figures, larger-than-life birds, palm trees, and column after column of text. The chamber for Nebenmaat is incredible to behold: the unusual monochromatic hieroglyphic script is just as eye-catching as the colorfully painted gods.

A five-minute walk to the northeast is the Temple of Deir el-Medina, dedicated to a plethora of gods, including Hathor and Maat. The temple was founded during the reign of Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty), but the current structure dates from more than 1,100 years later, from the reign of Ptolemy IV. Coptic Christians later turned the temple into a monastery, which gave this place its name (Deir el-Medina means "Monastery of the City"). Look out for the judgement scene of a heart being weighed against Maat's feather of truth and justice. If the heart is heavier, it has committed bad deeds during its time on earth and will not go on to enjoy the afterlife.