Howard Carter's House

What is Howard Carter's House?

It is the house Howard Carter built in 1910 as his base for excavating the Theban necropolis, and where he lived during the search for and clearance of Tutankhamun's tomb. Locals called it "Castle Carter". It stands on a low rise near the turn-off to the Valley of the Kings, with a domed central hall that kept the rooms cool.

Restored and opened as a museum in 2009, the house is laid out as it might have been in the 1920s: his study with desk and typewriter, the bedroom, the dining room, and the darkroom where photographs of the find were developed. Photographs from the excavation line the walls.

It is small and old-fashioned in presentation, but the sense of place is strong: you are standing in the rooms where the most famous archaeological discovery of the 20th century was planned.

Carter worked with a team that included the photographer Harry Burton, lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, whose glass-plate photographs recorded every object in place before it was moved. Those images, many reproduced in the house, are still the main record of how the tomb looked when it was opened, and they show how methodical the ten-year clearance had to be.

What is the Tutankhamun replica?

In the grounds is an exact, full-size facsimile of Tutankhamun's burial chamber and sarcophagus, made by the Madrid-based specialists Factum Arte and opened in 2014. The walls were recorded in 2009 with high-resolution 3D scanning and photography, and reproduced down to the texture of the plaster and the brown microbial spots.

The aim was to offer a lasting alternative to the real KV62, which suffers from the heat and humidity of visitors. Here you can stand closer, take your time and study the paintings of Ay performing the Opening of the Mouth, and the twelve baboons of the Amduat, without a queue behind you. Many people see the replica first, then the real tomb.

At the time of writing the replica has been visited on the same ticket as the house; confirm when you buy, as arrangements have changed over the years.

How was Tutankhamun's tomb found?

Carter found the first step of the tomb on 4 November 1922, at the start of what his sponsor, Lord Carnarvon, had agreed would be the last season of searching. Carter had come to Egypt in 1891, aged 17, as an artist copying tomb paintings, and had been digging in the valley with Carnarvon's money since 1917.

After uncovering the stairway, Carter covered it again and cabled Carnarvon in England. On 26 November, with Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn beside him, Carter made a small hole in the sealed doorway and held up a candle. Asked if he could see anything, he is reported to have answered, "Yes, wonderful things". The exact words vary between accounts.

The clearance took ten years. Carnarvon died in Cairo in April 1923, which fuelled the legend explored in our curse of Tutankhamun guide; Carter himself lived until 1939. The full story is in our discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb guide.

Is it worth visiting?

Yes, if Tutankhamun is one of your reasons for coming to Egypt, and especially if you are deciding whether to buy the real KV62 ticket. The replica gives the best view of the burial chamber paintings available anywhere, and the house adds the human story that the tomb itself lacks.

It is also a good stop for families: children can see the scale of the tomb without a long queue in a hot valley. Those with little interest in Tutankhamun can skip it in favour of Medinet Habu or the Tombs of the Nobles.

Visiting tips

Visit straight after the Valley of the Kings, about five minutes away by car, when the comparison with the real tombs is fresh. It is also close to Hatshepsut's temple, so it slots easily into a standard West Bank morning.

• Time: 20–30 minutes in the house and garden, and 20–30 minutes in the replica.
• Tickets: sold at the entrance; check current prices on egymonuments.gov.eg.
• Combine with a drink: the garden and terrace look across the fields towards the Nile, a pleasant break from the heat.
• Stay in the story: on the East Bank, the Winter Palace hotel is where Carnarvon stayed and, by popular tradition, where news of the discovery was first shared.