The term “ritual space” in architecture, refers to a specific building or environment created and reserved for ritualistic or religious purposes. These places are designed and built to support various rituals, ceremonies, and worship. These spaces for activities like worship, sacraments, festivals, celebration pilgrimages, meditation, prayer, offerings, sacrifices, rites of passage, communal meals, chanting, confession, fasting, procession, dance or cultural performance express the ideals, principles, and cultural traditions of a particular religion or spiritual tradition. Buildings, whether created for elaborate events or simply to serve as places for regular meals, play a crucial role in organizing and strengthening social interactions by directing and centralizing how individuals engage with the space they provide. Through ritual and myth, meaningless chaos is transformed into meaningful order. It offers a reliable analysis of man and his relationship to his environment, including his physical, social, and spiritual dimensions.
One such ritual is death. To acknowledge, cope with, and get meaning from the universal experience of death and loss, the rituals of death serve as an essential cultural and social mechanism. During one of life’s most difficult and transforming experiences, death rituals give people and communities a feeling of order, support, and connection. The acknowledgment and handling of the emotional, cultural, spiritual, and practical aspects of death depend greatly on the rituals of death and their architectural analogs. They provide communities and individuals with a methodical and significant means to deal with the difficult and universal experience of losing a loved one. The design and architecture of places and things used for funerals, burials, and grief are greatly influenced by the rituals around death. The form and purpose of funeral architecture are influenced by these rites, which vary greatly among nations and religions.
Death ritual spaces encompass a wide range of architectural components. Cemeteries, as the final resting places for the deceased, include tombstones, memorials, mausoleums, crypts, and burial vaults that preserve the memory of those who have passed away. Crematoriums, in contrast, are specifically designed to accommodate the increasingly common practice of cremation and include viewing rooms for families to say their farewells as well as spaces for religious or memorial ceremonies. Churches incorporate architectural elements such as the nave for the funeral service, the altar for religious rituals, and the choir for hymns and prayers. Temples and pagodas reflect unique architectural styles and serve as venues for funeral ceremonies and rituals deeply rooted in cultural and religious traditions. Chapels and memorial gardens provide peaceful settings for contemplation, intimate ceremonies, and moments of solace. Funeral homes may offer private family rooms, enabling grieving families to find comfort and conduct personal ceremonies. Columbaria, which are designed to house urns containing cremated remains, provide a dedicated place for families to pay their respects. In certain cultures, processional routes marked by architectural features like archways or gates are followed during funeral processions to create a ceremonial ambiance..
Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt
Location and Context
The Valley of the Kings, situated in Egypt, was a region where, for roughly 500 years spanning from the sixteenth to the eleventh centuries B.C.E., elaborate tombs were constructed for Ancient Egypt’s Pharaohs and influential nobles. This area comprises two valleys: the East Valley, containing the majority of the royal tombs, and the West Valley, located on the west side of the Nile, opposite Thebes. Serving as an extensive necropolis, it boasts more than 63 rock-cut tombs belonging to pharaohs and aristocrats from the prosperous New Kingdom period, which was one of the most luxurious epochs in ancient Egyptian history. These tombs served a dual purpose, providing a permanent and secure resting place for the deceased and also functioning as temples where rituals were conducted to ensure eternal life. The remote location of the Valley, when observed from the Theban plain, appeared to align with the setting sun, a connection that held great significance for the ancient Egyptians in relation to the afterlife. Initially, these tombs were basic single-chamber rock-cut structures, but they evolved into more intricate edifices featuring open courtyards, chapels, entry facades carved from the rock, and a shaft leading to an unadorned burial chamber. These tombs were designed to symbolize the underworld and featured long, sloping rock-hewn tunnels leading to either an antechamber or a sequence of occasionally pillared halls before reaching the burial chamber.
Layout
Although the layout of the tombs varies greatly, they all generally consist of a descending tunnel that is broken up by deep pits to deter thieves and by pillared chambers or vestibules. A burial chamber with a stone sarcophagus in which the royal mummy was placed and storage chambers around which furnishings and equipment were arranged for the king’s use in the afterlife are located at the further end of the passageway. The walls are covered with sculpted and painted scenes showing the deceased king in the presence of gods, particularly the gods of the underworld, as well as illustrated magical texts resembling those found in funerary papyri, which were meant to aid him in his journey through the underworld. There are both enormous ones with numerous side rooms and some smaller ones with only a few compartments or passageways. A bent axis can be found in some tombs, while others feature lengthy, sloping passageways, while some remain incomplete. Nineteen papyri and ostraca describe the architecture of several Theban royal tombs. Construction workers had access to a form of “building plan”, however there was no standard blueprint for the construction of a tomb.
The burial chamber of Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled between 1472 and 1458 B.C., is located in the longest tomb (number 20), which is over 700 feet (215 meters) from the entrance and descends 320 feet (100 meters) into the rock.The Seti I tomb is one of the most stunning temples, with a painting of the stars on the ceiling and a burial chamber decorated with vibrant scenes.Tutankhamun’s mummy can be viewed in The Tutankhamun tomb which this tomb, although it is one of the least ornate, one of the most significant. Ramesses V and VI’s tomb is one of the largest chambers and is a pillared hallway located in the Temple of Ramesses V and VI, roughly near the middle of the tomb. It includes amazing murals and an astronomical roof, similar to Seti I’s tomb.
Decorations inside the tombs
Religious writings and imagery were used to decorate the bulk of the royal tombs. The early graves were painted with scenes from Amduat, which tells the story of the sun god’s journey through the twelve hours of the night. Amduat is Arabic for “That Which Is in the Underworld.” Since Horemheb’s time, tombs have been adorned with the Book of Gates, which depicts the sun god traveling through the twelve gates that separate day and night and guarantee the tomb owner’s security throughout the night. Since Seti I’s burial onward, the ceilings of the burial chambers have been painted with images that have come to be known as the Book of the Heavens and once again depict the sun’s journey through the night’s twelve hours. The Litany of Re, a protracted ode to the sun deity, dates back to the reign of Seti I.
The decoration, design, and positioning of the Eighteenth dynasty tombs inside the valley vary considerably. The Hatshepsut tomb is a peculiar shape, twisting and winding down more than 200 meters from the entrance such that the burial chamber is 97 meters below the surface. At first, there appears to have been no set plan. The Eighteenth Dynasty tombs, with their bent axes and straightforward decoration, include those of Thutmose III and Thutmose IV, KV34 and KV43. The tombs eventually became more regular and formalized.
For the past 200 years, the Valley of the Kings has been a focal point of modern Egyptology research. The valley has continued to be explored by numerous expeditions, substantially expanding our understanding of the region. Theban Mapping Project created new tomb signage in 2001 that included designs and information about the open graves.
References:
Cole, M. (2021). Learn About the Valley of the Kings, the Burial Site of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. [online] My Modern Met. Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/valley-of-the-kings/#:~:text=Architecture&text=The%2063%20known%20tombs%20at
Dorman, P.F. (2019). Valley of the Kings | archaeological site, Egypt | Britannica. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Valley-of-the-Kings
Anon, (2020). Valley of The Kings Facts & Architecture | Trip Ways. [online] Available at: https://tripways.com/b/the-valley-of-the-kings-egypt/
Griffin, K. (2021). Egypt Centre Collection Blog: The Architecture of the Tombs in the Valley of the Kings. [online] Egypt Centre Collection Blog. Available at: https://egyptcentrecollectionblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-architecture-of-tombs-in-valley-of.html.
www.newworldencyclopedia.org. (n.d.). Valley of the Kings – New World Encyclopedia. [online] Available at: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Valley_of_the_Kings
