His tomb, originally placed in the Valley of the Kings, was later moved to avoid the threat of looting; in 1881, archaeologists discovered his mummy among many others stored in a secret cache at Deir el-Bahri.
Born around 1302 B.C., the 19th-dynasty pharaoh Ramses II ruled for more than six decades, ordering the construction of so many massive monuments (such as the Temples at Abu Simbel) that he ensured his legacy as ancient Egypt’s most powerful pharaoh. His tomb, originally placed in the Valley of the Kings, was later moved to avoid the threat of looting; in 1881, archaeologists discovered his mummy among many others stored in a secret cache at Deir el-Bahri. Placed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the mummy was famously issued a passport in the 1970s, when it began deteriorating quickly and had to be transported to Paris for examination and treatment for a fungal infection.