Explore a 5,000-Year-Old Tomb in Giza from your Couch

Travellers trapped at home during this lockdown are being catered to like never before with a host of virtual tours being made available to encourage some at-home exploration. The latest addition to this catalogue is a tour of the 5,000-year-old tomb of Queen Meresankh III , courtesy of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with the usual admission fee of 50 Egyptian Pounds (around Rs243) waived. The tour, bolstered by Harvard University’s 3D rendering and encyclopaedic information, guides you through various sections of the tomb and provides important details about the paintings, hieroglyphs, sculptures and structures that can be found within. The tomb itself is chock full of ancient Egyptian art and artifacts that have allowed Egyptologists to zero in on the culture’s practices and peculiarities. The Egyptians were pioneers of pictorial presentation and the glyphs, beside detailing Queen Meresankh’s family and position, provide a glimpse of life 5,000 years ago. These etchings include a variety of sacrificial items, such as food and animals, for the funeral procession, a depiction of the Queen's steward, names of the artists that decorated the tomb, and other elements the like of which helped build the understanding of Egyptian culture we have today. These possessions were also etched on the walls to ensure their availability to Meresankh when the physical objects are lost in time. At the head of the stairs that lead there is a false door where, at certain points of the day, the sun would shine through a small window near the tomb’s entrance. Taking the virtual tour of Meresankh's tomb is a way of connecting to an ancient culture and seeing the marks of human life dripping from the walls. The marks of the artists, the remnants of the Queen’s positions and the detailed pictographic description of the lives and lifestyles of the Egyptian nobles is a truly gratifying experience, all from the comfort of your own home.