DMA clocks 1 million visitors thanks to King Tut, sorta

by Sarah Blaskovich

DALLAS — Lest you got sucked into reading how un-loved the King Tut exhibit was, the Dallas Museum of Art has revealed that for the first time, 1 million visitors have come to see the Boy King, or other stuff*, since October 2008.

Here's the thing: When the King Tut exhibit was first scheduled to come to Dallas, it was a really big deal. Then, when it arrived, the love affair continued. But it turned out that Dallas couldn't compete with the floods of people who visited King Tut when he arrived in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Philadelphia. Our own Teresa Gubbins reluctantly reported the story, hoping more people would show up before they shipped Tut off to San Francisco.

But then, the Dallas Business Journal shared recently that Tut set a record in Dallas. That's sort of true, but it's more appropriate to say that the museum set a record, and Tut helped.

"Either way, we are thrilled to be able to report that the Museum has reached a historic high in attendance, and that the King Tut show reigns as the most popular exhibition in our history," said Jill Bernstein at the Dallas Museum of Art.

*The numbers for the DMA's attendance are a little fuzzy. The 1 million people who came to the museum didn't all come for Tut -- in fact, only 664,000 of the visitors attended that specific exhibit. But, the DMA has never had 1 million visitors in a fiscal year in their 106-year history, and they've now reached that high mark mid-June. And, if you're counting, their fiscal year ain't over until September 30, 2009, so we expect more good news come Fall.