A mummy in Brno

The exhibit "King Tutankhamun - His Tomb and His Treasures," in Brno is, to put it mildly, not the real thing. For the real thing - meaning, for the chance to have seen even a small selection of the original treasures, which are from 2,500 to 4,600 years old - there was a major exhibition in Vienna earlier this year, titled "Tutankhamun and the World of the Pharaohs," co-sponsored by National Geographic magazine and put on in cooperation with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  

And it could be possible that the Austrian organizers of the King Tutankhamun exhibit in Brno even had this in mind. The posters advertising the exhibit (seen all around Prague) actually do state that their exhibition is of reproductions, but this is in the fine print only noticed from up close. Based on the number of grumbling parents inside the exhibit, it's fair to say that at least some of the adults there felt the exhibit was a swindle.

If the organizers wouldn't have tried to build up so much suspense at the entrance of the show, perhaps some visitors wouldn't feel so let down once they are finally allowed to see the various installations (re-creations), which are arranged in separate sections, so that one can "relive the experience" of the British archeologist Howard Carter and his benefactor Lord Carnarvon with his wife in 1922, when they finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun, after searching for more than five years.

King Tut (1332-23 B.C.) was likely the son of Queen Nefertari (the most famous of Ramses II's seven principal wives and chief consort of Akhenaten), or Kiya, a secondary wife of Akhenaten, the controversial "renegade or heretic" reformer (1353-36 B.C.) Akhenaten reigned for 17 years and, after his death, his capital (Armana) was abandoned and his monuments destroyed. This is explained in a film (in Czech) in the first waiting room. (There are also headphones for explanations in English and German.)

In the next waiting room, visitors see another film about the life of the undeterred, life-long archeologist Carter, and his financial supporter Carnarvon, who had the digging rights for the area of the Valley of Kings, where King Tut's tomb was found. After his discovery, Carter then spent another 10 years onsite on the clearance and inspection of the tomb and the preparation of the treasures for transport to Cairo - thoroughly documenting everything he saw, as well as every step of his work.

Viewers are also reminded of the ongoing controversy about how King Tut died, more than 3,300 years ago, since he only reigned for about 10 years, and especially since he was only about 9 years old when he became pharaoh. Was he murdered, and, if so, by whom? You are also reminded of the legendary curse of King Tut's mummy: Carnarvon died shortly after the discovery, and apparently at the exact moment of his death, all the lights in Cairo mysteriously went out. At 2 the next morning, Carnarvon's dog howled and dropped dead. Finally, more immediately after the discovery, a snake killed Carter's pet canary.  

These stories should at least give visitors a feeling of utter safety and convenience; firstly, visitors have the unique opportunity to see the entire tomb and treasures of King Tut without having to travel to Egypt, nor without having to wait for hours in line (for instance, if they had gone to Vienna or even London last year), and, most importantly, without having to worry about the mummy's curse. The film in the second waiting room ends in suspense, with the words of Carter to Carnarvon, said while first peeking through a small hole into the antechamber, using candlelight: "I see wonderful things," he says. And this phrase is the guiding light for the rest of the exhibition.

In groups of about 150-200 people, visitors are herded into the exhibition's first area, which has a platform with all the treasures found in the antechamber. Visitors cannot stand very close to the objects at this point, after which the lights fade and everyone moves to another platform, which shows treasures from the first burial chamber, among other things. The lights fade again and another section shows the coffin ensembles. Finally, visitors are led into a larger room with adequate lighting to see all the treasures reproduced accurately and to scale at closer inspection, in the context that these were all the necessities that the deceased pharaoh would need to accompany him on his journey into the underworld for his eternal afterlife.

This is not to say that the exhibit is not without its merits. Children and most adults do enjoy seeing the numerous objects (more than 1,000 replicas), from small vessels and exquisite jewelry to the portable shrines (serving as layers of the coffin). These shrines have the enigmatic book of the netherworld hieroglyphs written on their gold surfaces. There is also an impressive remake of the sarcophagus and the mummy of the pharaoh, and the famous funerary mask made of gold. Many accessory treasures are also on display but kept away from closer inspection, possibly since they look even chintzy from afar.

The exhibition certainly has educational value (especially for children) and it piques one's interest in seeing the real thing. Also, the best of these reproduced treasures reveal that the royal artifacts of the Egyptian civilization from 2,500 to 4,600 years old truly have no comparable arts or treasures in Europe or anywhere else in the world from the same period in history. The jewels and crowns of royalty even of the Middle Ages are like peanuts compared with Egypt's treasures, and only the modern European art movement at the end of the 19th century, Art Nouveau, approaches the decadent lavishness of Ancient Egypt.  

Tony Ozuna can be reached at
features@praguepost.com