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BY A CORRESPONDENT
March 4, 2005
Groundbreaking CT scans of the celebrated pharaoh
King Tutankhamun will be displayed in the National
Geographic exhibition "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of
the Pharaohs," scheduled to begin a four-city, 27-month
tour of the United States on June 16, 2005, at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The images of the
CT scan, conducted in January 2005, have not been
revealed to the public so far. The scan is expected to
explain whether the Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun was
assassinated or whether he died of natural causes 2300
years ago.
It is interesting to note that immediately after the
CT scan was after, Dr Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian
Supreme Council of antiquities had said that the old
legend of "Pharaoh's Curse" could be true. Several
unexpected and unfortunate events which occurred during
that procedure had prompted the eminent Egyptologist to
say so:
Tutankhamun exhibition tickets are currently on sale.
The sale is on till the end of the exhibit's stay in Los
Angeles on November 15, 2005. The tour is organized by
National Geographic, AEG Exhibitions and Arts and
Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the
Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Tickets for the three other tour cities, Museum of
Art, Fort Lauderdale (opens December 2005); The Field
Museum, Chicago (opens May 2006) and The Franklin
Institute, Philadelphia (opens February 2007) go on sale
in the coming months.
The Tutankhamun CT scan images to will be displayed
were captured by a portable CT scanner, donated by
Siemens, which allowed researchers to see through the
Tutankhamun mummy's wrappings and for the first time, to
compile a three-dimensional picture of Tutankhamun.
These never-before-seen images will be on display in the
final room of the exhibit, along with other dramatic
images and video footage. The scanning of Tutankhamun's
mummy is part of a landmark, five-year Egyptian research
and conservation project, partially funded by National
Geographic, which will CT-scan other ancient Egyptian
mummies.
The gallery of more than 130 treasures from
Tutankhamun's tomb, other Valley of the Kings tombs and
additional ancient Egyptian sites will take visitors
back in time with inventive design to explore and
experience the world and times of King Tutankhamun and
his contemporaries.
See our earlier stories here:
Curse of
Tutankhamun
Explanation to Tutankhamun's Curse
Tutankhamun was one of the last kings of Egypt's 18th
Dynasty and ruled during a crucial, turmoil-filled
period of Egyptian history. He died under mysterious
circumstances in 1323 B.C., in the ninth year of his
reign. He was probably only about 18 or 19 when he died.
Some Egyptologists believe he was murdered by his
successor, Ay.
The exhibition will place fifty of Tutankhamun's
burial objects found when Howard Carter discovered the
tomb in 1922 in their historical, religious and
sociopolitical context to show the changes occurring in
Egypt in the late 18th Dynasty (1555 B.C. to 1305 B.C.).
Key items include Tutankhamun's royal diadem — the gold
crown discovered encircling the head of the king's
mummified body that he likely wore while living — and
one of the gold and precious stone inlaid canopic
coffinettes that contained his mummified internal
organs.
The exhibition also will include more than 70 objects
from tombs of other 18th Dynasty royals as well as
several non-royal individuals. These stone, faience and
wooden pieces from burials before Tut's reign will give
visitors a sense of what the lost burials of other
royalty and commoners may have been like. All of the
treasures in the exhibit are between 3,300 and 3,500
years old.
The layout, flow and scholarly conception of the show
is being organized by curator David Silverman, the
Eckley B. Coxe Jr. professor of Egyptology and
curator-in-charge, Egyptian Section, University of
Pennsylvania Museum, who also helped curate the 1970s
tour.
Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Egyptian
Supreme Council of Antiquities and director of the Giza
and Saqqara Pyramids, is writing the exhibition
companion book, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the
Pharaohs," and a children's book, "Tutankhamun: The
Mystery of the Boy King," both to be published by
National Geographic in June 2005.
LACMA co-curators Nancy Thomas and Kathlyn Cooney,
both trained Egyptologists and art historians, are
working as part of the curatorial team to develop the
installation and review, edit and manage the material
according to LACMA standards. They also are working with
LACMA's educators to create an innovative children's
activity center ("The Pharaoh's World") to accompany the
exhibition.
Treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb were last displayed
in the United States during a seven-city tour from 1976
to 1979, which included LACMA and set traveling
exhibition attendance records with some eight million
visitors.
"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs"
group rates start at $6, and individual tickets range
from $15 to $30. Exhibition hours will be seven days a
week, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and tickets are for a
designated hour. For information on LACMA tickets,
please call 1-877-TUT-TKTS or visit www.ticketmaster.com,
www.KingTut.org or www.lacma.org. For more information
on the exhibition, please visit
www.nationalgeographic.com/tut or
www.KingTut.org.
ABOUT LACMA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA, is the
premier encyclopedic visual arts museum in the western
United States. Established in 1965 as an independent
institution, the museum has assembled a collection of
approximately 100,000 works from around the world
spanning the history of art from ancient times to the
present. Through its far-reaching collections and
extensive public programming, the museum is both a
resource to and a reflection of Southern California's
many cultural communities and heritages. The museum
draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually and has
more than 75,000 members. It is accredited through the
American Association of Museums.
Museum Hours: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday noon-8
p.m.; Friday noon-9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.-8
p.m.; closed Wednesday. Call (323) 857-6000, or visit
www.lacma.org for more information. The museum offers
free admission after 5 p.m. every day the museum is open
and all day on the second Tuesday of each month. LACMA's
"Free after Five" program is sponsored by Target.
Location: LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire
Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Pay parking is
available in the lots at Wilshire Boulevard and
Spaulding Avenue, and on Ogden Drive.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
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