Tutankhamun unmasked

culpepper

Not really a rip off but quite disappointing.
We went to see the tutankhamun exhibition yesterday at the dome.
Tickets costing £15 for each of us(3 adults) and £5 parking on top.
OH has wanted to see Tuts treasure ever since his mum went to see the 1970's exhibition.
It is cold in the dome and not much to do except find somewhere to eat.
After roaming about the dome for ages(there is an entry window specified on the tickets and you cant go into the exhbition before that time) we finally got in. It was quite crowded despite the staggered viewings. It takes about an hour to walk around reading all the exhibition signs and hardly a seat anywhere(lots of people sat on the edge of the fake egyption columns in one room to give their feet a rest).
There are no toilets once in the exhibition and it looks like no reentry to the exhibition if you needed to go out of it to the loo's part way through,.
After much of the exhibition being about Tuts parents and grandparents the main part ,Tuts own treasures in rooms downstairs from the rest ,was quite a small collection. A podium has a black and white photograph in life size of the mummy with the mask on.
There was NO GOLDEN FUNERAL MASK at all despite it being the photograph on the advertising poster.
The last room was a collection of projected TV documentary clips about how they think he died. The only exhibit in that whole room is a small skull which is obviously not real as it was not in a case .
The gift shop is way over priced and full of the usual awful stuff.
We felt conned. Surely everyone who goes to see this is expecting to see the mask??
What there was to see was interesting but it felt as if a lot had been done to spread out the artefacts as far as they would go with pictures and decoration.

pulliptears

Wait...the funeral mask isnt there!!???? Thats all Im going to see!!

zfrl

According to the info on the O2 site the mask is not allowed to leave Egypt so you will need to visit Cairo to see it!

suzy_g

I am glad i didn't go now, i recently had a trip to London, i remember the first time it came to london, as i live in London then, my mum would not let me go because of the curse:eek: i could of took myself but my mum put me off.
this time me and my hubby went to the museums and the fair in leicester square..

Dingdangdoforme

If anyone gets the chance to visit Cairo, the National Antiquities Museum is well worth the trip alone. Lucky enough to visit a few years ago and wasn't dissapointed. Never realised there were so many items recovered, and the death mask - superb.

Vampgirl

culpepper wrote: »

There was NO GOLDEN FUNERAL MASK at all despite it being the photograph on the advertising poster.
The last room was a collection of projected TV documentary clips about how they think he died. The only exhibit in that whole room is a small skull which is obviously not real as it was not in a case .

I thought it was general knowledge that the funeral mask never leaves the Cairo and that it wouldn't be in the exhibition? Obviously not! Apparently the Egyptian government won't let it out of the country in case it gets damaged.

The poster is not actually of the funeral mask - its a partial shot of the sarcophagus. There is also the picture of a canopic coffinette on the website (and it clearly states that it is a miniture mask). Also the exhibition is actually called "Tutankhamun and the golden age of the pharaohs" which to me does imply that the Tutankhamun artefacts are only a small part of the exhibition. However I do believe the Nefertiti bust is there (that's what I really want to see).

What concerns me more is the fact that there are no toilets once you're in the exhibition!

culpepper

yes the nefertiti bust is there along with some others.
If I had read all the advertising about the exhibition online beforehand,I probably wouldnt have gone once I realised the golden mask was not there.
The posters do look like the mask though even if they are not.
Advertising being such a visual medium, it is the representation that gives the impression ,not the small print.

asea

There is also a vast collection of Egyptian artefacts & mummies in the British Museum which are well worth a visit (my Egyptian friends always fume when I've taken them over to visit!) and best of all, my fellow MSErs - it's free to visit

January_Embers

I went to see this with my family at the end of November. Our viewing time was 5pm, so maybe it wasn't as busy then as although there were quite a few people we never felt it was crowded.
I loved the exhibition, but I adore Egypt and a have visited the country a few times so I'm biased. In most of the literature I've seen and frequently asked questions on the official site, it states the death mask cannot leave Egypt. If you had something that old and priceless, would you risk sending it around the world? I know I wouldn't! The death mask is one of the most famous icons of Egypt, there is no way they would let it leave Egypt under any circumstances.

I found there were plently of bench type seats in just about every gallery. I'm disabled and use crutches to aid my walking and I have to take regular breaks so the seating was important to me and I found it quite adequate, but as I said earlier it wasn't overly crowded when I went so finding a seat wasn't a problem.

I agree about the no toilets, there should be some really.
As asea said the British Museum is a great place to visit for Egyptian antiquities ( and has toilets too!:p ).

culpepper

Thanks for that january embers. We went to the 2.30 viewing and I suppose it was busy because a lot of people go to have a meal and then follow it on with a look at the exhibition. It was very busy though when we were there and there may actually have been seating which we couldnt see due to the amount of people in each gallery. It wasnt so crowded that we were shoulder to shoulder but just a little frustrating as some of the exhibits were only really able to be seen from over the tops of other peoples shoulders. All those wearing the audio guides were going to the same exhibits at the same time as they listened to their commentary leaving those without the audio guides standing around the back waiting till they could see the signs to read them.
The ushers on the entrance queue pointed out there would be no toilets before we went in but I dont think there was any sign up to say so and it was only mentioned to us because we asked if we were too early to start queueing..

shinkyshonky

Seems like a pile of TUT then!