Tutankhamun exhibition opens with pharaoh’s gold mask and throne | UK | News
The entire contents of Tutankhamun’s tomb are on display for the first time since its discovery by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. The exhibition will be a major draw for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), described as the world’s largest archaeological museum. The museum is now open and will display approximately 5,500 items from the tomb, including the child king’s golden mask, throne and chariots.
Dr Tarek Tawfik, former president of GEM, said that approximately 1,800 artifacts previously found in Tutankhamun’s tomb were exhibited. But the president of the International Society of Egyptologists wanted visitors to have “the full experience that Howard Carter had more than a hundred years ago.”
Most of the galleries in the area have been open to the public since last year, but a new addition will be the Tutankhamun exhibition, as well as Khufu’s 4,500-year-old funeral boat, one of the oldest and best-preserved ships from ancient times.
“He will now be at the peak of his glory. You can imagine the whole world will come back when the Tutankhamun collection opens, because this is an iconic Pharaoh, the most famous king of all ancient times,” said guide and aspiring Egyptologist Ahmed Seddik. BBC.
GEM is filled with approximately 100,000 artefacts from predynastic to Greek and Roman periods and is expected to attract up to 8 million visitors a year, providing a major boost to tourism.
Other fascinating artifacts include the statue of the powerful pharaoh II. There is a 3,200-year-old obelisk and an 11-meter high statue of Ramesses.
The Giza pyramids can be seen from the upper floor of the museum, which cost approximately £910 million ($1.2 billion), after climbing a giant staircase lined with statues of ancient kings and queens.
Prominent Egyptologists said that this museum strengthened the demands for important antiquities such as the Rosetta Stone exhibited in the British Museum to be returned to Egypt.
Egypt’s former minister of tourism and antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass told the BBC: “I want two things now: first, for museums to stop purchasing stolen artefacts, and second, I need three objects returned: the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, the Zodiac from the Louvre and the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin.”
Dr Hawass created online petitions for the cause, which gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures.
