London: Starting from today, people of London can watch the splendour of Egyptian mummies right their in their city. Yes, the mummies, including the most famous of all – boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun are on a royal visit to London!
Today some of the most recognisable icons of Egypt, King Tutankhamun’s treasures will be on display at a new icon of London, the O2 arena.
The exhibition is called ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs’.
The show’s designer Mark Lach says the venue presented a blank canvas in which to design the exhibition and he is proud of the way it has come together.
However the exhibit will not include the pharaoh’s famous golden mask, which was a highlight of a similar tour nearly 30 years ago.
The mask is now too delicate to travel.
David Silverman’s first job was a curator for the "Treasures of Tutankhamun" at Chicago’s Field Museum in 1977.
Thirty years later he was asked to undertake the role of curator once again.
He says the mask is central to Egypt’s tourism industry and is too fragile to travel.
The Egyptian Tourist Authority says that more than 9 million tourists visited Egypt last year up from 8.7 million the previous year.
Many tourists flock to the Cairo Egyptian Museum to see treasures from the age of the Pharaohs.
And at the centre of that exhibition…. the iconic mask of Tutankhamun, the boy king.
Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities says the mask is not appropriate to this exhibit and is too fragile to travel.
He says that visitors to the London exhibit will enjoy the more than 141 artifacts on display and will have a chance to learn more about Tutankhamun’s family.