King Tut without his mask

It was packed, anti-climatic but thrilling just the same.



The exhibition has 30 minute slots which tend to be sold out, so there were a lot of people crowding around every exhibit.  The large statutes of Tutankhamen were the most impressive, like this one.

The use of blue glass in some of the works was interesting.  There were 2 blue glass headrests, not as comfortable as a pillow surely?  And here, a blue glass head.

The hieroglyphic decoration of the boxes in the first gallery room was particularly evident on this box.

Ra! Gilded wood.

Here Tutankhamun is said to be hunting hippopotamus.  I’d like to be armed with more than a gold stick if I was hunting hippos.

Lots of inlay.

His bed for the afterlife.  Nice feet, unlikely to withstand bouncing?

I loved the panther, such a beautiful tail, but clearly not the star of the show.

There are 5 galleries, so I’m sure I wasn’t alone in assuming that it was building up to the mask...Gallery 5, the final one, however contained this.

I think it said this was the biggest statute in a tomb ever found, something like that, but I was too busy wondering on Earth the Tutankhamen mask was.  Used on the advertizing for the exhibition, or at least that’s what I’d thought it was, and yet not in the exhibition?!  Aghh!  Although there’s a replica in the exhibition shop.