On passing through the door above which an effigy of the goddess of balance (Meat with wings outspread) stands out, we reach not only the sarcophagus room but also (indeed especially) the Kingdom of Osiris in the Field of Reeds. But to get there Nefertari will have to overcome many obstacles and traps placed in her path by evil genies and negative forces from the nether world.

Fearsome guardians, like those of the doors and proches of the mysterious Duat, will rise up as she passes and even threaten her unless she knows their names and secrets-- this knowledge being the only thing that can save her from annihilation and allow her to continue on her journey to the god of the dead.

This long journey, punctuated by pitfalls, starts for the deceased queen on the left-hand side as one comes in: its exclusive theme is Chapter 144 of the Book of the Dead, which here occupies the walls of the whole of this half of the room. On the other side, however, the vignettes and text relate to Chapter 146 of the ritual: these formulae complement the previous ones, and allow Nefertari to fulfill the last stages of her wanderings and rejoin Osiris.

Arriving at the end of this perilous course, from which she finally emerges triumphant, Ramses II's great royal wife reappears at worship before the triad of gods who preside over the destiny of westerners (= the dead), viz. Osiris, Hathor-Imentet and Anubis, portrayed on the right-hand half of the end wall (=religious west) of sarcophagus room, four sons of Horus, is depicted on the end wall.

These four, together with Nephthys and Isis (likewise protectors of mummified organs) are also portrayed on the sidewalls, while Nefertari, in the guise of a mummy propped upright, adorns the inner face of the left-hand door-jamb.

On the front annex, two acts of worship take place under the benevolent eye of a winged Maat, who occupies the end wall. In one, the deceased queen pays homage to a cow-Hathor coming out of the recesses of the western mountain; in the other, this act of worship is directed to Anubis and Isis, both shown seated. The badly damaged state of the little right annex makes it impossible to reconstruct its decoration, the vestiges that survive being really too small.

Thus Nefertari's sumptuous 'eternal abode', a monumental Book of the Dead in stone, with walls instead of papyrus and painted reliefs instead of vignettes, by the distribution of its iconography admirably summarizes the main stages of her voyage in the Kingdom of the Dead. But the finest ending to her odyssey is without doubt on the soffit of door of the sarcophagus chamber, where the reborn queen emerges from the eastern horizon in the likeness of a solar disc to immortalize forever her victory over the world of darkness.

The outer face of the doorway leading from the corridor into the sarcophagus chamber: the lintel is decorated with the figure of the squatting goddess Maat who has her two arms, which are extended into wings, spread out across the whole width.

We now enter the sarcophagus chamber, which has four square pillars, and a sunk area in the middle space between the two pairs of pillars, where the sarcophagus stood, and which has a step leading down to it from both sides.

The sarcophagus chamber measures 10.40 by 8.45 meters. A small annex opens off from this chamber to the right and the left, and another opens from the middle of the rear wall. The walls of the sarcophagus chamber are lined with a bench cut out of the rock, apparently designed to deposit objects there.

All around the sarcophagus chamber runs a monumental version of Chapter 144 on the west and Chapter 146 on the east side. The first concerns the gates, the second the doors, of the realm of Osiris.

Each is guarded by monsters armed with knives, and before the queen can "pass on" to Osiris she must know and be able to pronounce with "power and authority" their several names. Each section lists the name of the two persons in charge of it, one bearing the designation "guardian", the other that of announcer" i.e. the one who forwards the name to the next gate.

The queen must also address the gate before it can be opened: "I am a noble one ... I shall not be hindered by the (charcoal) black walls of the passages of the gate of the "Sleeping face". The illustration shows the gate itself. A Knowledge of the name is essential to the dead salvation. On the northern wall of the chamber the queen is shown before Osiris, Hathor and Anubis.

The four pillars of this chamber form a kind of shrine to contain the sarcophagus now lost. The pillars are decorated with figures of Iwnmutef, Harendotes, Djed-pillars and Osiris, while queen Nefertari is embraced by Hathor and Isis. Horus Iwnmutef means "pillar of his mother" vocative of Horus's success in regaining the throne of his father. The text says, "I am thy son, thy beloved one, my father Osiris! A protector has come to thee. I have beaten for thee".

Harendotes, the son and avenger of Osiris, murdered and dismembered by Seth, is called "Horus who avenges His Father". Here he intercedes with his father for queen Nefertari. His panther skin symbolizes his ability to piece the body together again.