Artifacts From King Tut's Tomb to Go on World Tour

When British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun he said it was “the day of days, the most wonderful that I have ever lived through and certainly one whose like I can never hope to see again.”

Carter found the tomb in Egypt in November 1922 and spent the next decade excavating the fascinating collection of artifacts belonging to the young pharaoh from the 18th dynasty.

Altogether, Carter cataloged 5,398 objects from the nearly intact tomb ranging from Tut’s 25-pound solid gold funerary mask to gold coffins, gilded wood shrines and alabaster jars painted with hieroglyphic spells.

Much of this breathtaking collection typically resides at the Cairo Museum in Egypt.

But this March, artifacts from the tomb are going on tour to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their discovery, according to the Associated Press.

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The exhibit, “King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh,” will begin its tour in the United States at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. It will remain at the center for 10 months before heading to Europe in January 2019 for a 10-city international tour.

For those who have not made the trek to Egypt to see the artifacts, the touring exhibit represents a unique opportunity. It is the largest collection of items and gold from the tomb ever to go on public display outside of Egypt. About 40 percent of the items that will be showcased in the exhibit are leaving Egypt for the first (and last) time.

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After the tour, the items will go on permanent display at a new museum being built near Egypt’s Giza Pyramids, Associated Press reported.

Named the Grand Egyptian Museum, the new facility is being built to help reinvigorate the country's tourism industry. It covers 480,000 square meters and will house about 100,000 artifacts, spanning the pre-dynastic era through the Greco-Roman period, according to separate Associated Press report. A vast 7,000 square meters within the museum has been set aside for the display of items from King Tut’s tomb.

Tut became pharaoh at age 10 in 1333 B.C. For many, he embodies the glory of ancient Egypt thanks in large part to the fact that his tomb was packed with so many gold and jewel-encrusted objects that were symbolic of the wealth of the 18th dynasty.

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