Site and Visitor Infrastructure at the Valley
Current infrastructure in the parking area with vendors' shops (right) and security post at entrance to the Valley (foreground).
Site and visitor infrastructure constitutes the greatest modern intervention to the valley. Current infrastructure consists of security-related installations, parking areas for motor coaches, a ticket office, shops for souvenirs, a bathroom trailer, four shade shelters near tombs open to the public, signage, and miscellaneous furnishings such as benches, bag checks, and trash receptacles.
Most of this infrastructure was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s and is inadequate in meeting site management and visitor requirements.
Broader Considerations
Infrastructure plans developed for the Valley of the Queens have taken into consideration all functions required for site and visitor management, with size and amenities of visitor infrastructure based on surveys, observations, and visitor statistics undertaken during the assessment phase of the project.
The architectural design for the site accounts for the lack of standardized design criteria in the West Bank. To address this, the Valley of the Queens design followed aspects of the Kings Valley visitor center and bazaars (constructed in 2006), in particular stone work, which is compatible with colors of the landscape, and lattice roofing in the bazaar area, which provides dappled shade and ventilation.
For Valley of the Queens, skilled masonry work, quality wood, and a suitable source of stone are important construction requisites.
Responsive Plans
Plans developed for site and visitor infrastructure include:
- an orientation center, which includes interpretation panels to explain the significance and history of the site, a ticket office, visitor-screening security installations, toilets, and an office for a site manager
- security post required for tourist police and central security forces
- parking areas for coaches and private vehicles, service road to the site, tea pantry and toilets for drivers, and trash collection facilities
- upgrading of electrical supply to site
- four shade shelters adjacent to the tombs open to visitors
- new paths with edging walls and lighting through the site