Took the day off work yesterday to attend the King Tut exhibit at OMSI with my wife, daughter and the kids in her school. I knew this wouldn't be a collection of the original artifacts as I understand that no longer tours, but I wasn't sure if it would be any good. Well, I was definitely pleased with the whole thing.
They did a great job with a recreation of the 3 chambers Howard Carter found when he discovered the tomb. They had everything laid out exactly as it was found, in great detail. The folks that built all the items for this travelling exhibit have done a fantastic job of capturing every little detail. And honestly, what I thought I knew about the discovery was quite a bit off of the reality.
For example, I knew his coffin was inside a stone sarcophagus. What I didn't know is that his coffin, which is solid gold and highly decorated - spectacular - was inside 2 other larger coffins, and that was inside the stone sarcophagus. Then that was inside a shrine (room) covered inside and out with gold. But that shrine was inside 3 other shrines! So to get to him, you had to open 4 doors, the sarcophagus and 3 coffins! And the space inside that final shrine was tiny - hardly any room for the team to move around inside.
There is a replica of his unwrapped mummy. He was a little guy. Replicas of all the jewelry he was buried with - amazing they fit him in there with everything they put in with him. And replicas of the jars with his organs in them. That was almost as cool as the coffin itself.
The other thing that stood out was how the items included in the tomb were tossed in almost like a storage unit would look today. Yes, some things were neatly arranged, other items were tossed in like someone unloaded their pickup at the local storage unit.
It was quite busy in there, lots of school kids visiting. But worth the trip if that kind of history interests you. I think we were there for about 2 solid hours going through the displays.
I've got some photos I'll post here in just a bit, stand by.
Side note - for anyone who wants to go, I was carrying - my usual carry piece, plus 2 knives. No security, no pat down, no metal detectors. In fact, one mother from the school saw us there and said she wasn't sure if she should bring her usual EDC knife, but knowing we were coming, she felt comfortable that we would back her up if there was any issue with OMSI saying she couldn't bring it in
Oh well, nothing to be worried about.
They did a great job with a recreation of the 3 chambers Howard Carter found when he discovered the tomb. They had everything laid out exactly as it was found, in great detail. The folks that built all the items for this travelling exhibit have done a fantastic job of capturing every little detail. And honestly, what I thought I knew about the discovery was quite a bit off of the reality.
For example, I knew his coffin was inside a stone sarcophagus. What I didn't know is that his coffin, which is solid gold and highly decorated - spectacular - was inside 2 other larger coffins, and that was inside the stone sarcophagus. Then that was inside a shrine (room) covered inside and out with gold. But that shrine was inside 3 other shrines! So to get to him, you had to open 4 doors, the sarcophagus and 3 coffins! And the space inside that final shrine was tiny - hardly any room for the team to move around inside.
There is a replica of his unwrapped mummy. He was a little guy. Replicas of all the jewelry he was buried with - amazing they fit him in there with everything they put in with him. And replicas of the jars with his organs in them. That was almost as cool as the coffin itself.
The other thing that stood out was how the items included in the tomb were tossed in almost like a storage unit would look today. Yes, some things were neatly arranged, other items were tossed in like someone unloaded their pickup at the local storage unit.
It was quite busy in there, lots of school kids visiting. But worth the trip if that kind of history interests you. I think we were there for about 2 solid hours going through the displays.
I've got some photos I'll post here in just a bit, stand by.
Side note - for anyone who wants to go, I was carrying - my usual carry piece, plus 2 knives. No security, no pat down, no metal detectors. In fact, one mother from the school saw us there and said she wasn't sure if she should bring her usual EDC knife, but knowing we were coming, she felt comfortable that we would back her up if there was any issue with OMSI saying she couldn't bring it in
Oh well, nothing to be worried about.
