Thursday, October 2, 2008

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs opens Friday at the Dallas Museum of Art

By Laura Seewoester

After much anticipation, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs opens Friday at the Dallas Museum of Art, bringing with it much of the treasure and mystery from ancient Egypt. Don't forget to buy your tickets ahead of time.

The first section of the exhibit focuses on objects from the tombs of Tut's predecessors. It's like a family tree of artifacts, including items from daily life in ancient Egypt and a composite statue of Nefertiti that captures her legendary beauty. The most impressive artifacts are from the tomb of Yuya and Tjuya (believed to be Tut's grandparents), which include the gilded coffin and funerary mask of Tjuya. Despite the black mark on the funerary mask (which was left by the fine linens they laid over the mask), it's quite impressive.

The real meat of the exhibit is, of course, the items found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Expect a lot of gold and color. The scarab bracelet (which has never toured before) is much bigger than it looks in the picture. Very man-tastic. And no, there is no sarcophagus or coffin or mummy mask. Most of these items (at least the mask) are at the The Egyptian Museum and I'm pretty sure they aren't ready to part with them any time soon. The mask supposedly bears a curse that says, "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the king." Apparently eight of the people that were present when Tut's coffin was opened faced untimely deaths. Needless to say, it stays put. One of the main pieces of the exhibit is the Canopic Coffinette that held Tut's liver. The detail is magnificent. Don't forget to circle around the whole piece as the back is just as ornate, and almost as beautiful, as the front.

The exhibit, above all, is an educational experience (at least for those of us who haven't put much time into studying the Boy King). Here are some cool tidbits of information I picked up (and believe me, I will learn more when I go back):

• Tut's predecessor and father (well, probably), Akhenaten, changed the religious focus to one god. When Tut became king he abandoned the monotheistic beliefs and restored the traditional belief in many gods.
• Tut changed his name once he was king from his original name Tutankhaten. Tut means "image," ankh means "life" and amun means "God." This makes Tutankhamun translate to "image of the living God."
• King Tut died mysteriously at the age of 19. The cause of his death is still unknown.
• The fetuses of two female infants were found in Tut's tomb. They are currently undergoing DNA testing to determine indisputably if they are the children of Tut and his (maybe) half sister/wife Ankhesenamun.
• Lineage is not exactly cut and dry. Tut's predecessor and likely father, Akhenaten, had multiple wives. It is believed, but not with certainty, that Tut's mother is Akhenaten's minor wife Queen Kiya. That's assuming Akhenaten is the father. (Sounds like a bad episode of Jerry Springer, eh?)

Related stories

• Pegasus News Week in View: Nostalgia Edition (Oct. 2, 2008)
• Art Openings and Events: October ‘08 (Oct. 2, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Fine Arts > Art and Sculpture
• Historical Exhibits

Comments

Mike Orren Staff

Pre-emptive:

9 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Laura Seewoester Verified

I went back to the exhibit with family, and I gotta say, for the love of God take the train. Parking is a nightmare and expensive. That coupled with the already sky-high ticket prices somewhat diminishes the overall value of the experience.

7 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

alexander troup Verified

I went by there again today, on my ride to downtown and the crowd was nowhere, while why park,.. take the trolley or walk and discover the road to King Tut, Caravan from the land of exspensive Art deco fever,....Besides... what did P.T Barnum say, "a Sucker born every minute"..A.T, Old Museum guide.

7 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

commenter Anonymous

Last night was nightmare. Downtown was in gridlock because of glass falling from the windows of a high rise, so when we FINALLY made it to the valet after following all the signs that say "Tut valet this way" we were told they wouldn’t park our car because there was a private event there. OKAY SO MAYBE TAKE DOWN THE 10 TUT VALET SIGNS!!!! We had to go back out into traffic & over Woodall just to do a U turn to get the other parking which was $15 and the attendant was rude when we asked questions. Turns out valet was $30. I am sorry but the museum is supposed to be something fun, educational and relatively inexpensive for the family to do. How can you justify $70 on tickets, $15-30 in parking? It’s UTTERLY ridiculous and NOTHING but a deterrent to get folks to take advantage of the arts.

7 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Travis Bush Verified

I have some family in town and we decided to go down to the exhibit today. I have to say that $10 to park is price gouging. I parked 4 blocks away and it was still $6.50, because of the Tut exhibit. I enjoyed the exhibit, but I think it is a bit overpriced, or at least should come with the audio tour at no extra charge..

One assumes that when the exhibit fills up, you don't notice the smell in the various rooms, but there weren't that many people there today and there was a distinct odor that reminded me of a great pile of gym socks. Maybe it was carpet glue, or some other chemical, but it was definitely noticeable. It could have been in a locker room had it not been for the 3000 year old artifacts. The only other issue I had was at the end of the exhibit. The room where you exit into the gift shop (big surprise there) has two different video presentations going at the same time. It creates quite the cacophony and not worth standing there listening to either one. You can hear it from the adjoining room, which I found distracting.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )