Tutankhamun at the 02
Blaze of splendour and museum spat
Charlotte Higgins
One of the most talked about exhibitions of the year, Tutankhamun
and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, opens tomorrow in a blaze of
gloriously preserved artefacts. But tensions between the Egyptian
lenders to the exhibition and the British Museum threaten to overshadow
the show, which sees astonishing objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun
displayed in Britain for the first time since 1.7 million people
queued at the British Museum 35 years ago.
Dr Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of
Antiquities, yesterday criticised the British Museum for allegedly
stalling on its decision on whether to lend the Ptolemaic era Rosetta
Stone, which provided a key for understanding hieroglyphics, for
the opening of Egypt's $600m (£300m) Grand Museum in 2012. "The
answer is not a straightforward yes or no from the British Museum.
They say they must see the museum; but they know it is not finished
until 2012 … We are not trying to keep these artefacts for
ever. I am disappointed." He added that the Egyptians had extended
goodwill to Britain by lending the 130 objects that form the Tutankhamun
exhibition, but that trust has not been reciprocated.
Hawass also defended the high ticket price to the show, at London's
O2: £20 for an adult at weekends, or £15 during the week. "If
you go to the cinema you pay £15, and maybe you go to sleep.
Here you see beautiful artefacts, you learn." Above all, he
said, up to $140m raised from the Tutankhamun tour, which has already
visited several US cities as well as Bonn and Basle, will be ploughed
back into the conservation of monuments in Egypt.
"Egypt gave you a lot of free meals. When the Tutankhamun exhibition
came to London 35 years ago, Egypt got zero money ... We didn't get
a penny and the British Museum are still making money."
However, Dr John Taylor, assistant keeper at the British Museum,
said that in 1972 the proceeds raised from the exhibition went on
the conservation of the Philae temple complex, adding that he was "a
little surprised" by Hawass's claim. A spokeswoman for the museum
confirmed that £654,474 went to Philae in the 1970s. Taylor
said the request for the Rosetta Stone was "going through the
formalities" and that the British Museum had "received
a formal request which it is considering. We need a clear idea of
the security arrangements."
The exhibition contains artefacts of great splendour, most of which
were not exhibited in London in 1972. However, visitors will not
see the golden mask of the boy pharaoh, who died aged about 20 in
roughly 1323 BC. That has been deemed too precious to travel. But
there is much else to enjoy: the gilded coffinette used to store
the pharoah's viscera, which is inlaid with carnelian, obsidian and
rock crystal; a gessoed wooden chest with decorative fretwork that
could have been built yesterday. There are exquisite model boats
with polychrome intact, and a lotus-shaped cup in buttery, translucent
alabaster. There are beautifully carved shabtis (funerary figures)
in wood, limestone and fa ïence; and a ceremonial shield depicting
the pharaoh as a sphinx trampling some unfortunate Nubians.
However, some visitors may find the show's loud accompaniment of "atmospheric",
choirs-of-heavenly-angels music off-putting. Nor is it clear yet
how the public will respond to the O2 as an exhibition space, with
its atmosphere bordering on that of an American mall. Tickets sold
so far number 325,000; the organisers hope to attract a million visitors
in total.
Highlights of the exhibition shop include a lifesize "mummy" that
opens to reveal a set of CD shelves (£1,500), and a Tutankhamun
tissue box where hankies are dispensed from the pharoah's nostrils.
Hawass's many fans will also find versions of his Indiana Jones-style
hat on sale, fetchingly modelled by the secretary general himself.
Is King Tut really worth the price of admission? Have your say on
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/
Highlights
• Painted carved wooden torso of Tutankhamun covered in gesso
and wearing crown with a cobra deity
• Statuettes of the king wearing crowns of Lower and Upper
Egypt
• Falcon collar, from amuletic jewellery found on the king's
body
• Gilded coffin of Tjuya, buried with Yuya in the Valley of
the Kings
• Serpent goddess, a graceful painted wooden sculpture
• Child's chair with footrest, in ebony and ivory, with gold
foil panels
