AP Features, February 1st, 2007
King Tutankhamun became perhaps world's the oldest media darling when British archaeologists discovered his approximately 3,300-year-old tomb in 1922.
A display of his treasures set traveling show attendance records when it went on nationwide tour in the '70s. Starting Saturday, The Franklin Institute will try to rival that fanfare when it hosts an updated and upgraded Tut exhibit that more than doubles the size of the previous blockbuster.
"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," running through Sept. 30, brings nearly 130 ancient Egyptian artifacts, many outside their home country for the first time, to Philadelphia _ the last of four stops on a U.S. tour.
Fifty antiquities excavated from Tutankhamun's tomb, ranging from his crown to a tiny coffin that contained his carefully embalmed liver, are on display. Additionally, visitors will see almost 80 items from other rulers of the 18th Dynasty, or "Golden Age," of which Tut was a part. The era spanned from about 1540 B.C. to 1292 B.C.
Terry Garcia of the National Geographic Society, one of the exhibition's organizers, called it "the biggest comeback tour in more than 3,000 years."
The display opens with a single granite statue of Tutankhamun, lit from above in a dark room, and continues into galleries organized around daily life, religion and burial rituals of the time.
Anticipation builds as visitors head into a narrow passageway that imitates the entrance to Tut's tomb. The passageway lead into rooms filled with objects from the tomb itself, including shaltis _ figures meant to work as servants for the decreased king in the afterlife.
Particularly arresting is Tut's child-sized seat, made of wood, gesso, gold, ivory and copper alloy, reminding viewers that the boy king began his reign at the tender age of 9.
By the time he ascended the throne, Egypt's status as a superpower was secure. The great pyramids at Giza had been standing for more than 1,000 years, and the nation was rich in resources and power. But a well-preserved tomb and wild legends surrounding its excavation made the child king, whose nine years of rule ended with his death at 18 or 19, arguably Egypt's most famous pharaoh.
The exhibit walks visitors through the creation and subsequent disappearance of King Tut's tomb. Tutankhamun's mummy, along with the solid gold coffin and stone sarcophagus that held it, was placed in an underground vault. The tomb's unusual location and atypical floor plan suggest that Tut's early death was a surprise, and he had to be buried in a plot not meant for royalty.
Later flooding over his burial site erased evidence of the tomb for more than 3,000 years, until the discovery of some of Tut's treasure among a tomb raider's loot hinted at its existence.
British archaeologist Howard Carter's five-year search eventually brought an end to the global anticipation: By the light of a single candle, he was the first in millennia to see the treasure-filled rooms surrounding the nested shrines in King Tut's burial chamber.
Tight control over the release of information to the press combined with rumors that the tomb was cursed _ Carter's sponsor died within six months of opening the vault _ fueled a Tut mania that remains today.
The current exhibit has already attracted 2.5 million visitors at its stops in Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Chicago. Prior to its opening in Philadelphia, 400,000 advance tickets were sold, and the Franklin Institute expects about 1.3 million visitors during the eight-month run here.
The volume of artifacts on display outpaces the 55 items in the exhibit two decades ago, but the depth of the new material is also enhanced by modern technology.
"This is more than just an exhibition of beautiful objects," Garcia said. "It is an example of how technology and science are opening doors that had previously been closed to us."
Visitors will see video images from a 2005 CT scan of the mummy, which answered questions about his age and health and suggested that infection in a broken thighbone may have caused his mysterious death.
Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's antiquities council, said he was happy to help coordinate the artifacts' return to the United States, especially because it will increase access to the artifacts at home.
"When I thought about the King Tut exhibit coming to America again, I made one announcement: There are no free meals anymore," Hawass said.
Unlike the first run, American museums won't be the only ones profiting from Tut's popularity. A portion of profits from ticket sales will go toward building 13 museums in Egypt to permanently house the items from the exhibition, among other antiquities.
