Gardiner MSS 47.08.05
Letter from Sir Alan H. Gardiner to his wife including his account of the opening of the burial chamber of Tutankhamun on February 16, 1923, page 5.
Pages 3 and 5 are photocopies, and there is no page 4 or 8.
© Griffith Institute,
University of Oxford
of the room. But we had to wait fully an hour more
before the great shrine or catafalque was revealed in
all its magnificence. It proved to be of this shape:-
and measured at least 24 x 16 x 10
[ 𓂀 ] feet. All the sides were of gold plate,
the interstices between the ornamental
symbols being of deep blue faience. A
marvel of marvels, such as we never dreamt of. The side,
– for it was the side, not the front, which was turned to
us as we looked, was hardly more than a couple of feet
behind the plastered door where we had been studying the
seals, and the whole catafalque, or shrine, very nearly filled
the room enclosing it. It was not without much difficulty
that one could squeeze by to the right of the shrine.
I can now complete my plan. A is the door which had fast
been opened, and to the right of it you
[ 𓂀 ] see the great golden catafalque. At
last my turn came to be allowed to
pass into the new rooms, and with
a little difficulty I squeezed along
its front side in the direction shown by
the arrow. The great heavy door x[?]/<of> x[?]/<the> catafalque
had been forced open by Carter, and we could just peep into it. Inside
was yet another golden shrine of just the same kind, and only a
little smaller! The inner shrine is sealed and intact. How
many more similar catafalques will be found, before the sarcophagus