Tomb of Horemheb in Saqqara

[1] It was constructed before Horemheb ascended to the throne and was never used for his burial, since he later built the Theban tomb KV57 for this purpose.

The first design consisted of an entry pylon into forecourt, a colonnaded court containing the burial shaft and three chapels or offering rooms.

Finally the forecourt was closed by a pylon some 7m high and colonnaded to form the first peristyle open court.

The narrowed original forecourt was covered with a vaulted roof and contained statues while the chapels became storage rooms.

The central area of the limestone-paved Great Courtyard slowly slopes towards a narrow channel in the ground, called a runnel, on the north to assist in rain drainage.

Twenty-four limestone columns supported a roof originally, however only 10 survived with the rest only surviving by the base of the columns.These columns were originally decorated with a raised rectangular pattern with rectangle panels, illustrating Horemheb worshipping the various deities.

Further down are blocks depicting the Window of Appearances, though finely etched, including a scene in which the king is shown defeating an adversary.

A great official adorned with jewelry representative of honor is being supported by attendants or servants, accompanied to the right of him is a larger figure with one hand lowered in a greeting gesture.

It depicted Horemheb and a lady seated before a funerary priest making a drink offering.The second portion of the courtyard has limestone flags and a runnel similar to that of the Great Court but on the south side instead.

The walls are adorned with drawings of the Memphite funerary service.The mourners and their disposition drew the attention of excavators.

Additionally, a loose block that was found seems to show that of a military encampment setting, along with the images of the chariots.

A fragment of a statue, the head and torso of a female, though severely dilapidated, was found in the debris of the courtyard.

There were originally 4 burials in this section of the tomb, but upon discovery, excavators found the site to be mostly overturned and or destroyed.

The concrete piece of evidence to be gained from the burials was that they were rich, given that lots of gold leaf was found at the site.

Excavators entered another burial chamber containing a late Old-Kingdom sarcophagus in a pit in the floor.