Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, open May 26, 2006 through January 1, 2007. The Field Museum, Chicago.
Posted on 05/30/2006 12:50:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO - You can kick back with a King Tuttini cocktail, learn to decipher hieroglyphs or indulge in an "Egyptian Golden Body Wrap" complete with exfoliating Dead Sea salts and a dusting of golden powder.
Yes, King Tut is back, and Chicago is fired up for the pharaoh. The traveling exhibit "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" has opened at The Field Museum, attracting a line of ticket buyers.
Organizers believe the show, which opened Friday, could draw 1 million visitors before it closes here on Jan. 1, 2007, and businesses, restaurants and universities are lining up special promotions and events — hoping to benefit from the expected "Tutmania."
The show features more than 130 treasures from the resting place of the boy king and other royal tombs, all between 3,000 and 3,500 years old.
This is the only Midwestern stop for the show, which was previously on exhibit in Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and will go on display next February at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
With its appearance in Chicago, the exhibit comes full circle. The Field was one of the museums that attracted a total of 8 million visitors in the late 1970s to see another version of the Tut show.
It created such a frenzy that musuemgoers in sleeping bags and lawn chairs waited in line for hours. ("He gave his life for tourism," comedian Steve Martin sang in his humorous Top 40 hit, "King Tut.")
The result was the birth of the museum blockbuster, the shows where hype, ticket price and crowds sometimes threaten to overshadow the artistic or cultural value of the objects on display.
The Field has already sold nearly 200,000 tickets for Tut, despite a hefty $25 price. Museum officials believe that timed-entry tickets and extended hours will cut down on wait times.
Once visitors get inside the exhibit, they will likely understand archaeologist Howard Carter's awed first impression when he uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 and saw "gold — everywhere the glint of gold."
Carter's discovery of the remarkably intact tomb created a worldwide sensation and burst of Egyptomania. Movie theaters were decorated with Egyptian themes, Hollywood churned out mummy movies, and rumors of a mysterious curse on those who entered the tomb captured the popular imagination.
More than 5,000 amazingly preserved artifacts were found in the tomb. About 50 were included in the first King Tut tour of the 1970s, including the piece that would become an icon, his solid gold death mask.
That piece is missing from the current show (Egyptian officials won't let it leave the country). But there are again about 50 objects recovered from Tut's tomb. One of the most amazing objects in the show is a miniature coffin made of gold and decorated with carnelian, obsidian, rock crystal and glass. Approximately one foot high, it portrays Tut as Osiris, the god of the dead.
A coffinette held Tut's mummified liver, and on the inside — which is viewable — is carved the Book of the Dead.
The exhibit seeks to place Tut in the greater religious and historical context of the 18th dynasty, the golden age of the pharaohs. Tut was a relatively minor king who probably died before he was 20 but became famous because of the splendor of his tomb.
"Ironically, he's the one most remembered, but it's his ancestors who had all the clout," said David Foster, the Field's project director.
Those included his father, Akhenaten, who rocked the country by banning the worship of many gods in favor of Aten, a god portrayed as a sun disc. He's represented in the long, narrow face of a head from what was once a massive limestone statue.
Much of another entire gallery is dedicated to items from the tomb of the couple believed to be Tut's great-grandparents, Yuya and Tjuya.
Outside the museum, options include a planetarium show examining the "mysteries of the Egyptian sky" and a hotel exhibiting a 400-pound King Tut bust made entirely of chocolate.
Many of the curators and organizers connected to the show shrug their shoulders at the kitsch and promotions. They say they hope the hype draws visitors to the exhibit and inspires them to learn something new about ancient Egypt, a culture Foster calls "so complex and so rich, it just exerts this ongoing fascination. The allure endures."
___
On the Net:
The Field Museum: http://www.fieldmuseum.org
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, open May 26, 2006 through January 1, 2007. The Field Museum, Chicago.
Aaaaah . . . the mummy what got me interested in Egypt. How I would love to have seen that tomb! Or even a good re-creation.
Bill Clinton likes Mummies also
Ah, just in time to vote.
If you ever get to meet a wrap artist in person, be verrrry careful what you say about his mummy...
thanks NR for the reminder!
King Tut Exhibit Could Prove to Be Gold Mine
(Coming to the USA in 2005 for 27 month/4 city tour)
Reuters on Yahoo | 12/3/04 | Jill Serjeant - Reuters
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1294074/posts
King Tut, Totally Intact -- King Tut's Penis Rediscovered
Discovery News | May 3, 2006 | Rossella Lorenzi
Posted on 05/04/2006 2:10:56 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1626471/posts
Did you see it when it traveled before? I did, I was a little kid, but I remember it.
I never did. I think it was in Houston during the '70s.
He's my favorite Honkey.
It never made it to Houston but it was in New Orleans in '76. And no, I'm not all that big a rememberer of dates but I really wanted to see the exhibit but couldn't because I was too far along pregnant to go see it.
I got interested in Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology though when I was in the third grade. My favorite was Egyptian though because it seemed so exotic. I used to love going to the museum in Houston where they had the room dedicated to some Egyptian artifacts. I especially liked the big rock slab which had hieroglyphics on it because you were allowed to touch it.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Smenkhkhare, the Hittite Pharaoh
BBC History | September 5, 2002 | Dr Marc Gabolde
Posted on 07/30/2004 12:42:36 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1181802/posts
US dig uncovers King Tut's neighbours
The Age | February 9, 2006 - 2:26AM
Posted on 02/08/2006 1:48:04 PM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1574477/posts
Just for kicks, I might decide to have myself buried in solid bedrock, in a tomb filled with artifacts proclaiming myself king of the world, as well as gifts of science and knowledge to our future descendants. I'll have the tomb filled with a heavy noble gas, and sealed air tight, and leave clues to its location all over the place.
In the distant future, after global warming destroys civilization as we know it, my revisionist history of our modern culture will be the basis for a future civilization.
(cue evil laugh, fade out)
Woo-hoo! I am attending a conference in Chicago this July, and our group will have the entire museum, and King Tut exhibit, to ourselves! We took the kids to see it when it was in L.A. I thought it was a good mixture of artifacts and the final room with all the King Tut stuff was outstanding.
TV program to show unearthing of tombThe ancient Egyptian tomb discovered this year in the Valley of the Kings by Earl Ertman, University of Akron professor emeritus, and Otto Schaden, expedition project director, will be featured June 4 on the Discovery Channel... The program, Egypt's New Tomb Revealed, will air at 9 p.m. and will take viewers along as cameras descend a narrow shaft beneath desert sands to see the most significant find in the Valley of the Kings in more than 80 years... It's believed that KV63 was a tomb used for embalming. Inside the tomb chamber were five wooden mummy cases, 28 alabaster jars (18 of which had material used to embalm mummies) and several decorative stamps used to seal the jars. A seal with the inscription PA-ATEN is thought to have formed part of the name given to Tutankhamen's wife, Ankhesenamun. A woven garland of dried flowers was also found, indicating that a funeral had taken place nearby, Ertman said.
by Dottie Shinn
Thu, May. 25, 2006
Akron Beacon Journal
#1 son starts school in Glendale Heights in August so I plan to be in the city and must take in the show. We toted him thru the Ramses exhibit in Dallas when he was a babe--hope he likes this show better than he liked Ramses!
I heard that the LA museum was using a slogan 'The King of Bling' in some ads for the tour.
They cart out Tut every couple of decades or so for a 'your last chance to see Tut's relics, ever!' tour.
That's probably only true for the most elderly of people during any given tour.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.