Travel Guide Valley Of Artisans

The site is open from 6am to 5pm. Group ticket for 2 tombs + temple. Separate ticket for the tomb of Peshedu. This artisans' village, known locally as Deir el-Medinat, is a precious testimony to the habitat of the Amenhotep I era. Built on mounds in the middle of arable land, all these villages have disappeared due to successive floods or have been covered by modern dwellings. The village of Deir el-Medinat, however, cannot be considered a typical example of traditional settlement. It was created from scratch to house the workers and craftsmen (sculptors, painters, quarrymen, etc.) who worked on the necropolises, particularly those of the kings. There's no doubt that the rural village had a more confused, less orderly layout. Deir el-Medinat, on the other hand, already reflects a certain sense of urban planning. The houses themselves, though small, are less archaic in structure than the adobe huts and leafy roofs of the Nile peasants. Attached to one another, they are longer than they are wide, with two or three adjoining rooms and a staircase leading to a terrace on the upper level. If the work of these workers was difficult, their status as craftsmen compensated for many things by granting them certain privileges, such as good wages and a necropolis for their own use.