KING TUT ARRIVES AT PHILADELPHIA’S FRANKLIN INSTITUTE IN FEBRUARY 2007
Exhibition's Final Stop on U.S. Tour
PHILADELPHIA, 2006 - When King Tut’s treasures toured the U.S. from 1976-1979, nearly eight million Americans viewed the rare artifacts during sold-out tours at each museum in which they appeared. The exhibition was a must-see and had a tremendous impact on every city it visited, solidifying that the world’s first true “blockbuster exhibition” had arrived.
Since June 2005, when King Tut’s treasures returned to the U.S. for a four-city tour for the first time in 26 years, the response has been equally impressive. More than 1.6 million people have seen the exhibit in its first two stops in Los Angeles and Ft. Lauderdale alone, making it one of the most successful exhibitions in the history of each museum.
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age
of the Pharaohs
Photo courtesy of National Geographic Traveler
The local economies in Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale also benefited from the exhibition. An economic impact of $168 million was seen in Los Angeles County, with 52 percent visitors coming from outside of Los Angeles, and in Broward County, the exhibition brought in an estimated $150 million with approximately 95 percent of tickets sold coming from outside of Ft. Lauderdale and 33 percent from outside the state of Florida. Hotel stays also were up significantly in both cities during the exhibit's stay.
The exhibition will make its final U.S. stop at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 2007.
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs features not only the treasures of King Tut but the story of his family and his time at the height of Egyptian culture and influence. As viewers progress through the eleven galleries, the objects are presented in context of the social and political backdrop of the time in which their owners lived and ruled.
The exhibition includes more than 130 priceless treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun and other royal tombs, all between 3,000 and 3,500 years old. Included in these treasures are 50 of Tutankhamun’s burial objects, including his 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, precious stone inlaid canopic coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs.
Making up the rest of the exhibition are more than 70 stunning objects from tombs of other 18th Dynasty royals, as well as several other individuals. These stone, faience and wooden pieces from burials before Tut’s reign give visitors a sense of what the lost burials of other royalty and commoners may have been like.
Only a few of these 130 artifacts were seen in the 1977 King Tut exhibition, and many have never before left Egypt.
The exhibition will leave the U.S. for London after the exhibit closes in Philadelphia.
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs
The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia
February 3, 2007 to September 30, 2007
For more information, please visit: http://www.kingtut.org/ or www.fi.edu/tut