Monday, 16th January 2006 (2916 views)

Artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun are to go on display in four museums across America.

Currently on display at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaoh will reveal the Egyptians' worship of gold and luxury to culture-loving Americans across the country.

Gold features heavily in the exhibition, which should come as no surprise considering that the ancient Egyptians called the precious metal the "flesh of the goods". The metal's yellow colour was said to symbolise the sun, in turn representing the rebirth of the afterlife.

Among the most prized artefacts in the exhibition are the gold diadem that was taken from the mummified head of King Tut's corpse and a gold coffin, engraved with a likeness of the boy king.

In total, the exhibition boasts around 50 items taken from King Tut's tomb, as well as a further 80 pieces from other royal burial chambers surrounding the Nial.

The exhibtion will open in the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History in May and the organisers are expecting huge public interest.

The musuem last hosted a King Tut-focused exhibition in 1977 and the resultant visitor numbers led the museum to identify the phenomenon of "Tutmania".

"Now a new generation can bring their children here to see these wonderful treasures," said the museum's Sophia Siskel.

"Most people won't ever be able to go to Egypt to see those things, but they will have that opportunity here."

 

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