Ramesses VII was in the seventh year of his reign when he died. There is evidence that the room that ended up being the burial chamber was expanded from its original design as a corridor, and work on a subsequent room at the end of the tomb was halted.

The tomb was robbed in antiquity, and the mummy presumably lost, though four cups inscribed with the pharaoh's name were found in the "royal cache" in DB320 along with the remains of other pharaohs.

The tomb was one of at least eleven tombs that were open to early travelers. As evidence of this, 132 individual graffitis left by Ancient Greek and Roman visitors have been counted throughout KV1.

In a later period, the tomb was reused as a dwelling by Coptic monks. During this phase of occupation, graffiti was carved into the walls, and portions of the original Egyptian paintings and carvings were damaged.

Early European visitors to the area included Richard Pococke, who visited KV1 and designated it "Tomb A" in his Observations of Egypt, published in 1743. The savants accompanying Napoleon's campaign in Egypt surveyed the Valley of the Kings and designated KV1 as "1er Tombeau" ("1st Tomb") in their list.

circa 1136-1126 BCE

Plan
Typical of tombs from this period, KV1 is laid out along a straight axis. The successors of Ramesses III constructed tombs that had followed this pattern and were all decorated in much the same manner as each other. It consists of four major parts: the entrance, a passageway, the burial chamber containing the sarcophagus, and a final smaller room at the end.

circa 1136-1126 BCE

Entrance
The entrance is situated at the termination of the north-western spur of the first branch of the tomb. It measures 3.69 meters in width and 13.71 meters in length, with a smooth ramp descending 4.7 meters from the threshold. The design and incline are characteristic of Twentieth Dynasty royal tomb architecture, facilitating access for the transport of sarcophagi and decorative materials.

circa 1136-1126 BCE

Corridor B
Corridor B measures 15.28 meters in length, 3.17 meters in width, and 4.04 meters in height, descending 1.2 meters along its course. Two rectangular slots in the floor indicate the former presence of hinge posts, while the raised ceiling suggests the installation of a pair of inward-opening doors. The corridor’s decoration comprises scenes from the Book of Gates, Book of Caverns, and Book of the Earth, depicting Ramesses VI in the presence of composite and solar deities. The iconography reflects the king’s regeneration through the underworld and aligns with the theological program typical of Ramesside royal tombs.

circa 1136-1126 BCE

Burial Chamber J
The burial chamber measures 8.53 meters in length, 5.18 meters in width, and 4.24 meters in height, with a slightly rising floor. At its center, a depression is cut into the bedrock to accommodate the royal sarcophagus, covered by a stone lid carved in the form of an inverted cartouche. This represents the final documented instance of such a sarcophagus placement within a royal tomb; subsequent burials of the late New Kingdom adopted deeper pit formations sealed with flat lids rather than cartouche-shaped stone enclosures.

The walls of the burial chamber are decorated with extracts from the Book of the Earth. In terms of style and themes it closely follows that of its immediate predecessor, Ramesses VI's KV9, though the vaulted ceiling (inspect) within the burial chamber contain a double image of the sky goddess Nut, reflecting a style used in tomb paintings used by pharaohs of the previous dynasty.

The room was originally intended to be a corridor but was reconfigured in to a burial chamber when Ramesses VII died during his seventh regnal year. This reconfiguration included a recess cut into the floor for the sarcophagus.

circa 1136-1126 BCE

Chamber K
Chamber K measures 3.58 m in length, 3.13 m in width, and 3.72 m in height. Although the chamber was ultimately left unfinished, all four walls as well as the ceiling were decorated. Architectural features within the chamber indicate that work was still in progress when construction ceased.

Square beam holes are present in the side walls, while the niche in the rear wall appears to have been under active construction at the time work on the chamber was abandoned. Evidence of a wooden beam installation survives in the form of a small slot in one wall, where one end of the beam was placed. The opposite end was fitted into a longer slot in the facing wall, allowing the beam to extend across the chamber.

This beam likely served a functional purpose in the movement of heavy funerary equipment. Ropes could be attached to the beam in order to drag large objects—most notably the sarcophagus—into the tomb chamber.

Additionally, the floor and ceiling contain holes designed to accommodate hinge posts, indicating that the chamber originally had two doors.

circa 1136-1126 BCE

The decorative program of Tomb KV1, belonging to Ramesses VII, reflects a highly standardized yet refined adaptation of late Ramesside funerary iconography, characterized by a synthesis of solar and Osirian motifs that articulate the king’s cyclical rebirth and divine assimilation. Stylistically, the wall scenes are rendered in painted sunk relief with a restrained but balanced palette of yellows, reds, blues, and greens, emphasizing clarity of line over elaborate modeling—an economy typical of Twentieth Dynasty royal tombs.

Thematically, the program follows the canonical underworld books—Book of Gates, Book of Caverns, and Book of the Earth—each narrating the sun god’s nocturnal journey and triumph over darkness, paralleled by the king’s passage to eternal renewal. Ceiling compositions featuring the double image of the sky goddess Nut, astral deities, and vulture motifs reinforce the celestial dimension of regeneration, while scenes of the king before Osiris and other composite gods underscore his transformation into an Osirian being. In both theme and execution, KV1’s decoration represents a condensed but coherent theological statement that merges cosmic and chthonic elements into a single visual continuum, reflecting the culmination of New Kingdom royal funerary ideology.