ATLANTA: An exhibition featuring more than 130 treasures from the Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamun and other ancient sites will begin a US tour with an opening November Atlanta.
The Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University announced Wednesday it will open the exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center from November through May 22, 2009.
The exhibit highlights more than 50 treasures from Tut s tomb and more than 70 artifacts representing other pharaohs and notables.
America has welcomed the golden king, and now he returns, bringing with him all the great pharaohs of Egypt, said Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, which will receive proceeds from the exhibit. This exhibition will raise much-needed funds for the preservation of Egypt s monuments and the construction and renovation of museums throughout the country.
Tutankhamun was one of the last kings of Egypt s 18th Dynasty and ruled during a crucial, turmoil-filled period in Egyptian history. The boy king died under mysterious circumstances around age 18 or 19, in the ninth year of his reign (1323 BC).
The exhibition, also to include the latest scientific research about King Tut, will contain artifacts from the 4th Dynasty into the Late Period (about 2600 BC to 660 BC). They come from sources including temples and royal tombs. Many have never before been seen in the US.
Four galleries devoted to King Tut will correspond to the four rooms of his nearly intact tomb where the treasures were discovered by British explorer Howard Carter in 1922. Legendary artifacts from the antechamber, the annex, the treasury and the burial chamber will include Tutankhamun s golden sandals, jewelry, furniture, weaponry and statuary, exhibit officials said.
The exhibition also will include the largest image of King Tut ever found – a three-meter statue that originally may have stood at Tutankhamun s mortuary temple and retains much of its original paint. One of the four gold and precious-stone-inlaid coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs also will be exhibited.
The final gallery will feature CT scans of Tutankhamun that allowed researchers to compile the first three-dimensional picture of the pharaoh.
Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs is the second National Geographic exhibition dedicated to the treasures of King Tutankhamun and ancient Egyptian royalty. The first exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, was visited by nearly 4 million people during a four-city US tour from 2005 to 2007. -AP
