The exhibit, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, will appear at the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas starting on October 3, 2008. This will commence a three-city encore tour of the original exhibition by the same name. The original four-city tour which began in Los Angeles was a smashing success, attracting nearly four million visitors. When the original Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition opened in 2005, it had been twenty-five years since these treasures had been seen in the United States. The exhibition is currently in London, and will open to the public on November 15. The two museums which the Tutankhamun exhibition will visit after the Dallas Museum of Art have not yet been announced.
The planned Dallas Museum of Art exhibition, organized by National Geographic, AEG and the Arts and Exhibitions International, will consist of 130 artifacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamun and other Egyptian burial sites from the 18th Dynasty. Several artifacts which have never been seen outside Egypt will be included in the exhibit. However, the death mask is not permitted to leave Egypt, and will not be included in the exhibition. The Tutankhamun treasures have never before been shown in the Southwest. Fifty of King Tutankhamun’s burial objects will appear in the exhibition. However, King Tutankhamun’s mummy will not appear in the exhibit, but will remain in Luxor, Egypt in a protective climate-controlled glass case where visitors may view it. The mummy was moved to this case to protect it from the humidity and heat of visitor’s bodies, which was causing the mummy to deteriorate.
Zahi Hawass, the head of the High Council of Antiquities of Egypt, is very enthusiastic about the Tutankhamun exhibition’s upcoming Texas visit. He talks about the “boy king” coming to Texas, as though the mummy were part of the exhibit. Apparently, the point is to spark tourism to Egypt so that visitors can see the boy king face to face. Traffic to Tutankhamun’s tomb is expected to increase dramatically to between 700 and 900 visitors per day.
The tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter almost exactly eighty-five years ago, on November 4, 1922. The mummy was very badly damaged by Carter, who pulled off Tutankhamun’s death mask, and broke the mummy into 18 pieces trying to get at the pharaoh’s amulets, jewelry and crown. Tutankhamun’s mummy has been undergoing repair for the last two years, and was unmasked to the public for the first time on Sunday, the anniversary of his discovery.
In 2005, Tut’s mummy was subject to a CT scan which produced a 3-dimensional image of the pharaoh’s remains. More than three thousand years ago the boy pharaoh ascended to the throne at the age of nine, only to die unexpectedly in 1323 B.C. at the age of nineteen. The scans debunked a rumor that Tutankhamun had been murdered, but a break in the left thighbone indicated that he may have perished from a sudden infection. A silicone bust reconstruction was created from these scans, and is considered by some the most accurate representation of Tutankhamun.
You may pre-register for the Dallas Museum of Art exhibition on the web. Group tickets are already available. You can also buy tickets for the London exhibition on the exhibition’s website. A preview of the exhibition can also be seen on the site.
“About the Exhibition.” URL: (http://dallasmuseumofart.org/Dallas_Museum_of_Art/View/Tut/ID_198987)
“King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Exhibition.” URL: (http://www.kingtut.org/home)
“About the Exhibition.” URL: (http://www.kingtut.org/about_the_exhibition)
Rosella Lorenzi, “King Tut’s Face: Buck-Toothed and Blackened.” URL: (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/05/king-tut-mummy.html)
Anna Johnson, “Egypt unveils King Tut’s mummy to public.” URL: (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071104/ap_on_sc/king_tut_s_mummy_4)
“Tutankhamun’s ‘beautiful’ face revealed.” URL: (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5im1KdUZtm_7BvgEig3aRpWgHGUqQ)
Cynthia Johnson, “Tutankhamun’s face goes on public display in tomb.” URL: (ttp://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071104/sc_nm/egypt_tutankhamun_dc_1)
Anna Johnson, “Egypt puts King Tut on public display.” URL: (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/king_tut_s_mummy;_ylt=AmmKjFwYK7TjqPtYpIfzBg4FO7gF)
Ted Chamberlain, “Photo in the News: King Tut’s Face Reconstructed.” URL: (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0510_051005_tutsface.html)
