Egypt displays 30 ancient sarcophagi in Luxor

The Egyptian government displayed 30 sarcophagi more than 3,000 years old in the city of Luxor, the most important discovery of its kind since the 19th century.

On Saturday, Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anani noted that the find of this group of tombs with their coffins and mummies is "one of the largest and most important" to have been discovered in its entirety since the end of the 19th century, reports Efe news.

The sarcophagi discovered were made of wood colourfully painted and are very well preserved, while inside them were found mummies of priests and children from the 17th dynasty of the pharaohs (1,580-1,550 BC).

According to the Secretary General of the Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, the coffins were discovered in the same condition they were in when they were buried with mummies enclosed inside them on two levels, with 18 coffins on the first level and 12 on the second.

The discovery presented on Saturday is another result of the excavations launched last year in the tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, archaeological works in which several other tombs have been found besides the original entry to tomb TT 28 where the 30 coffins were found.

Some coffins found in an ancient workshop are considered to be a demonstration of the different stages of their construction in that epoch, some reaching the point of being completely carved in human shape, coloured and inscribed, while others were found in their original stages of carpentry.

The carvings on the sides of the sarcophagi represent a number of funerary motifs with pictures of the offerings to the different gods and deified pharaohs such as King Amenhotep, the first god of the Deir al-Bahari necropolis.

Also on display were scenes from the Book of the Dead and various artistic details used in funerary tombs and monuments.

Over the past few years, Egypt has announced a series of discoveries for the purpose of attracting tourism, an economic segment seriously affected by events that have occurred in the Arab country since 2011.