King Tutankhamun

This weekend Josh and I went to see the King Tut Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.  We made a whole Sunday out of it; we started out with the Mysteries of Egypt movie at the IMAX theater, walked through the exhibit, and enjoyed a great lunch.

The movie was great. I love the IMAX theater and I get a rush out of watching footage shot from a helicopter as it swoops over rivers, on a screen that makes me feel like I am there.  The movie was informative, but Josh and I agreed that it was geared toward a younger audience.  It had a lot of images of the three Giza pyramids and I got my first look at the modern city surrounding the pyramids.  All the pictures I have seen of the pyramids have carefully avoided, or just as likely Photoshopped, the city out of the image.  Like this:

 

Seriously, I google imaged it and none of the pictures show the thriving city just beyond the pyramids.  What is much harder to find is images like this:

I can honestly say, that before we watch this movie I had no idea that there was a full on CITY just beyond the pyramids.  In retrospect, it makes all sorts of sense but I still had a different mental image of this particular wonder of the ancient world.

After the movie it was off to the exhibit.  Josh and I were so excited to see this exhibit, it is the last time that it will be in North America and I have always been fascinated by the technological advancement of the Ancient Egyptians.  First the bad:  The Science Center uses this image in all of its advertising.

Call me crazy, or possibly naive, but I fully expected to see the death mask (that's the blue and gold mask pictured above), of King Tut.  This was not in the exhibit.  We found out later that King Tutankhamun nor his coffins (yes plural) have ever left his burial site.  All of the research done on King Tut was done at the burial site including the x-rays and CT scans of the mummy.  To me, it felt like false advertising, why show an image of something we are not going to see on all of the promotional material for the exhibit?  I can understand why they used the picture of the desk mask, it's beautiful, it's iconic, and it's dramatic.  And, there was no single piece at the exhibit that really screamed "Come see King Tut", quite like this picture does.  But, it wasn't there.

Ok, no more complaining...wait, one more:  It was so crowded!!  Even with the timed entry, we ended up waiting our turn at each piece we looked at.

Now, the Good:  the exhibit was phenomenal.  The items from King Tut's tomb were at the end, and they were divided into 4 rooms, each room corresponding to a room in the actual Tomb.

I was very impressed with the way this part of the exhibit was laid out.  The exhibit featured pieces from the tomb behind glass, and behind them, printed out larger than life and as the wall, were pictures from the tomb as it was discovered.

While King Tut's tomb is remarkable because of how complete and untouched it is, it was still the victim of looters.  So, we would see pictures like the above, with things tossed on top of one another, with no apparent organization.  The neat thing was looking at the object in front of you and picking it out in the picture on the wall.  Josh and I had fun looking at a boat on display and using specific details about it to help us identify it from several boats in the picture from the tomb.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take our own pictures inside but let me tell you that it was amazing. There were other pieces from King Tut's tomb including necklaces, earrings, a lot of statues, jars, a chair, a bed, a very cool fan, and my personal favorite - the solid gold finger and toe covers that went over the Pharaoh's fingers and toes to protect them.

At least half of the exhibit was devoted to non-Tut artifacts from Ancient Egypt.  There was a lot of beautifully detailed jewelry, it is amazing to think about people creating these pieces of art without the technology we have available today.  There were a lot of statues and carvings, and every one was amazing to look at.  Josh was very impressed with how each face looked different, they must have been pretty good likenesses to be distinguishable from one another to such a large degree.  

 

We read about how one statue in front of us had been appropriated by one Pharaoh from another, Josh pointed out an area of the carving that was deeper than the rest, and we are pretty sure that this is where the new owner rewrote his name to make the statue his own.  There was a wooden sarcophagus of a Pharaoh's wife that was beautifully carved.  It was large enough for a person to fit inside ( I suppose that's the point) - but the entire back and sides of it were covered in tiny feather carvings.  You had to get close to really appreciate the different size feathers and how the carver made them interlock.  Everything we saw on display was beautiful - even the toilet seat.

After we left the exhibit there was another room with an exact replica of Tutankhamun's mummy, and a timeline of the research done on it.  I'm not clear on why this wasn't part of the exhibit because it was completely relevant and very informative, but I'm glad it was there and I felt much better about our experience after seeing it.

We took our time walking around the science center and checking out some of the other exhibits, but by that time we were too hungry to do much besides want lunch.  We found the 5-point Cafe on Yelp, and we decided to walk the 2 blocks and check it out. We totally scored when we walked in, sat down at a booth and looked up to find the Seahawks game on.  We had a great meal, several delicious beverages and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.

It was a great day and I'm happy that we went.  Would I recommend it?   Absolutely, but I would think of it as a display of "Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including some from King Tut's tomb", not as "King Tut".  And definitely check out the 5-point on your way out!