Monday, April 19, 2010

Exhibition: Tutankhamun's funeral

SILive (Michael J. Fressola)

Now that “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” is headed this way (opening Friday in the Times Square Discovery Center), it’s the perfect time to attend “Tutankhamun’s Funeral” a small but disproportionately powerful installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Even people who aren’t keen on ancient Egypt, know that Tutankhamun’s tomb, which came to light in 1922, was the most intact royal cache ever recovered, a haul of solid gold objects, jewelry, clothing, furniture, weaponry, chariots and works of art. Today it fills 13 galleries in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

(In 1979, the touring extravaganza “Treasures of Tutankhamun” was so popular tickets were awarded by lottery. The show taught the Metropolitan and other institutions the art of the modern museum blockbuster.)

The show has objects (embalming equipment, dishes and plates, water jugs, linen kerchiefs, floral collars and the remains of a meal) recovered in 1907 in a burial pit, not far from Tutankhamun’s tomb, which would not be discovered for another 15 years.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Tickets for "Treasures of Tutankhamun" were purchased through Ticketron and Ticketmaster. There was never any lottery system to obtain them. I should know because I worked at the special exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.