Tutankhamen traveling exhibit
The Tutankhamen traveling exhibit showcases the fascinating artifacts from the tomb of the young Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamen, who ruled during the 14th century BCE. Originating from a highly publicized discovery by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, the exhibit features notable treasures, including the iconic golden death mask. The exhibit debuted in the United States on November 17, 1976, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., attracting nearly one million visitors in just four months. Following its initial showing, it toured several major cities, including Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and New York, each venue creating unique displays to enhance the cultural context of the artifacts.
This traveling exhibition not only sparked immense public interest in ancient Egypt but also set a precedent for future exhibitions worldwide, demonstrating the potential for museums to share and contextualize international artifacts. The significant attendance at each location highlighted the American public's enduring fascination with ancient cultures, a curiosity further fueled by popular media and films. Overall, the Tutankhamen traveling exhibit played a crucial role in promoting cultural exchange and education, paving the way for similar exhibitions from various countries in the following decades.
Tutankhamen traveling exhibit
The Event Artifacts from the tomb of the Egyptian king Tutankhamen traveled to several museums in the United States
Date November 17, 1976-April 15, 1979
The traveling exhibit of artifacts from the tomb of the Egyptian king Tutankhamen was a watershed event in providing Americans insight into the ancient world of Egypt. During the thirty months in which the exhibit traveled the country, millions of museumgoers became acquainted at first hand with the artistry, politics, and religion of a country that had, for nearly a century, been an object of mystery and fascination.
The immense popularity of the traveling exhibit featuring artifacts from King Tutankhamen’s tomb was predictable. The American public had had its interest in Egypt whetted by Hollywood spectacles such as Cleopatra (1963) and Land of the Pharoahs (1955). The dark side of Egyptian burial rites had been dramatized in a series of horror movies such as The Mummy (1932), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), and The Mummy’s Curse (1944). Many Americans were already familiar with the story of Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb and the attendant string of deaths that supposedly had been brought about as a result of a mysterious ancient curse.
For nearly two years, Thomas Hoving, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, worked with the Egyptian Organization of Antiquities and government authorities in Egypt and the United States to arrange for the transport of fifty-five artifacts from the tomb of the boy-king. The artifacts came to the United States by ship, under U.S. Navy escort.
The exhibit opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on November 17, 1976, and it remained there for four months. Nearly one million people visited the exhibit in the nation’s capital. It then moved to the Field Museum in Chicago, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Seattle Art Museum, remaining at each location for approximately four months and drawing similar crowds. In December, 1978, the exhibit traveled to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it closed its tour on April 15, 1979. The various museums went to great lengths to present these Egyptian artifacts in a memorable setting: For example, the National Gallery built a replica of the entrance to the tomb in which the treasures were discovered, and the New Orleans Museum of Art painted the street leading to the museum’s entranceway in a bright blue hue, mimicking the Nile River.
Impact
The success of the exhibition signaled to museum directors around the world that it was possible to exchange artifacts and enhance the reputation of individual museums by mounting displays that placed objects in context to tell a story about the past. In the decades following the Tutankhamen exhibition, dozens of similar exhibits from countries such as Russia and China were brought to the United States to entertain, educate, and awe a receptive public.
Bibliography
Hall, A. J. “Dazzling Legacy of an Ancient Quest: King Tut’s Gold.” National Geographic 151 (March, 1977): 292-311.
Prideaux, Tom. “Now It’s Our Turn to Be Fascinated by Tut’s Treasure.” Smithsonian 7 (November, 1976): 42-51.
Reeves, C. N., and Nicholas Reeves. The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure. New York: W. W. Norton, 1990.