By Cassandra Szklarski
The Canadian Press
TORONTO — King Tut is returning to Canada this fall, some 30 years after a massively popular exhibit about the boy pharoah sparked attendance records and a Steve Martin spoof.
This time around, an extensive exhibition will feature an almost entirely different collection and more than twice the number of treasures – including 130 pieces from Tut's tomb and other ancient sites.
They will be on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario from November until April 2010.
“Tutankhamun's magic still captures the hearts of people all over the world, even though more than 85 years have passed since the discovery of his amazing tomb,” Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Thursday in a statement.
“I always say that Egyptian antiquities are the heritage of the world and that we are their only guardians.”
Entitled, “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs,” the collection includes a 10-foot statue of Tut found at the remains of a funerary temple and the first three-dimensional CT scans of the king's mummy, captured by an Egyptian research and conservation project.
Other artifacts include jewelry, furniture and weapons, as well as Tut's golden sandals – which were created specifically for the afterlife and still covered his feet when his mummified remains were discovered in 1922.
It's been three decades years since King Tut's artifacts have appeared in Canada. When the collection came to Toronto in 1979, it drew a record 750,000 visitors to the AGO. The exhibit's appearance in Los Angeles was said to have inspired Martin's novelty hit song, “King Tut,” in 1978.
Highlights of the current exhibit include a gold coffinette that originally contained the pharaoh's mummified stomach.
There will also be artifacts belonging to some of ancient Egypt's most powerful rulers, such as Khufu, whose Great Pyramid is the only remaining structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and a gold death mask that covered the head and chest of the mummy of King Psusennes I.
All the artifacts were derived from temples and royal and private tombs from 2600 B.C to 660 B.C.
The current exhibit is currently winding its way through several U.S. cities after making its North American debut in Atlanta last November. The gallery says most of the treasures had never before been seen in North America.
“Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” makes its sole Canadian appearance with a members-only preview Nov. 21 and public opening Nov. 24. It runs through April 18, 2010.
Meanwhile, the gallery says it has invited writer Michael Ondaatje and filmmaker Guy Maddin to curate a show from its expansive photography collection. Tentatively called “Shadowy Disasters/Mildewed Moods,” the exhibit is scheduled for spring 2011.
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On the Net:
www.ago.net
www.kingtut.org
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