The O2, London
In 1972, the British Museum's Tutankhamun exhibition became the most successful blockbuster ever, attracting some 1.7 million visitors who queued for hours to catch a glimpse of the Egyptian boy king.
The organisers of the latest show, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, seem determined to equal this achievement.
The venue is the O2, a reincarnation of the Millennium Dome in north Greenwich, now a setting for major rock concerts. The show is the first to be held in the Bubble, an exhibition centre adjoining the main arena.
Unfortunately the location offers nothing to enhance the sense of expectation. Visitors face a long walk through a shopping mall and when they finally reach the exhibition entrance, marked out with black velvet and gold lamé drapes, they are asked to stump up £20 for a ticket.
Visitors get a lot of space for their money. The relatively small number of artefacts - 130 in all - are spread over two floors totalling 6,500 sq metres.
They are displayed in a sequence of 12 galleries, each focusing on a particular theme, such as Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and the Burial Chamber. Visually, the galleries alternate between lighter sand-coloured spaces and more atmospheric black rooms where gold glitters at every turn.
Designer Mark Lach has tried to evoke something of the feel of ancient Egypt, but the result is more Hollywood than Valley of the Kings. There is a mismatch between design intent and the setting.
It is a travelling exhibition and looks like one in the Bubble, a space that has all the charm of a trade fair. Large photographic images of the desert appear to be there simply to fill wall space, clumsy rope barriers detract from the items they are protecting, and the finishes in some areas lack finesse.
The exhibition sets out to explain what is known about Tutankhamun, one of the last kings of Egypt's 18th Dynasty.
He was born in about 1343 BC, the son of Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh who introduced a new religion, the worship of the Aten. He became pharaoh at the age of nine or 10, and soon after married his half-sister. The facts of his death, aged 20, are mysterious, but could be as simple as an infection from a broken leg.
Undocumented life
In his time as king, Tutankhamun made little contribution to the Egyptian empire. Records that might have shed more light on his life and achievements are thought to have been destroyed by officials who had not forgiven his father's heresy.
Ironically this meant that his tomb was never found by robbers. Its eventual discovery in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter was to turn the B-list pharaoh into a legend.
However, the exhibition takes in a much broader sweep of Egyptian history than just Tutankhamun's life and death, making it difficult for visitors to pace themselves. There is a great deal of ground to cover, mentally and physically.
Like its main rival attraction, The First Emperor at the British Museum (BM), the Tutankhamun exhibition looks beyond the iconic objects themselves and sets them in a wider historical context.
Meet the family
While the BM does this succinctly, it is done less well here. For anyone whose grasp of ancient Egyptian genealogy is hazy, parts of the exhibition are muddling. There are 50 major objects excavated from Tutankhamun's tomb, but some 70 items from other royal graves of the 18th Dynasty are also featured.
They include those of pharaohs Amenhotep II and his son Tuthmosis IV, and Yuya and Tjuya, parents-in-law of Amenhotep III and great-grandparents of Tutankhamun. Keeping up is not easy.
The redeeming feature of the show is the awe-inspiring beauty of the objects. Among them are impressively large items such as the grey granite statue of Tuthmosis IV and his mother, a richly decorated wooden model boat from Amenhotep's tomb, and the gilded coffin of Tjuya.
Pieces from Tutankhamun's tomb include an unguent jar topped with a delicately carved recumbent lion, his childhood ebony chair, as well as five important items found on the mummy, including the gleaming golden collar in the shape of a falcon worn round his neck.
A well-produced audioguide, smoothly narrated by actor Omar Sharif, adds more detail to the brief object labels.
Creating a powerful finale is hard when the one crucial object is missing. Tutankhamun's famous gold funerary mask is now too fragile to travel.
Instead, visitors are presented with the tiny canopic coffinette that contained his mummified internal organs. It is exquisite, but in display terms, underwhelming.
In the last gallery, the exhibition grinds to a halt with modern CT scans of Tutankhamun's body and BBC news footage of his true face being revealed in Luxor in November 2007, more than 3,200 years after his death.
The exit straight into the gift shop is an inescapable part of the package. Visitors may feel less exploited by knowing that three-quarters of the profit from the tour is to be ploughed back into conservation projects in Egypt.
Penny Ritchie Calder is a writer, consultant and a former head of exhibitions at Imperial War Museum, London
Project data
Cost: Undisclosed
Sponsor: Credit Suisse
Curator: David Silverman
Curatorial adviser: John Taylor
Exhibition design: Arts and Exhibitions International
Exhibition ends: 31 August 2008
In 1972, the British Museum's Tutankhamun exhibition became the most successful blockbuster ever, attracting some 1.7 million visitors who queued for hours to catch a glimpse of the Egyptian boy king.
The organisers of the latest show, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, seem determined to equal this achievement.
The venue is the O2, a reincarnation of the Millennium Dome in north Greenwich, now a setting for major rock concerts. The show is the first to be held in the Bubble, an exhibition centre adjoining the main arena.
Unfortunately the location offers nothing to enhance the sense of expectation. Visitors face a long walk through a shopping mall and when they finally reach the exhibition entrance, marked out with black velvet and gold lamé drapes, they are asked to stump up £20 for a ticket.
Visitors get a lot of space for their money. The relatively small number of artefacts - 130 in all - are spread over two floors totalling 6,500 sq metres.
They are displayed in a sequence of 12 galleries, each focusing on a particular theme, such as Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and the Burial Chamber. Visually, the galleries alternate between lighter sand-coloured spaces and more atmospheric black rooms where gold glitters at every turn.
Designer Mark Lach has tried to evoke something of the feel of ancient Egypt, but the result is more Hollywood than Valley of the Kings. There is a mismatch between design intent and the setting.
It is a travelling exhibition and looks like one in the Bubble, a space that has all the charm of a trade fair. Large photographic images of the desert appear to be there simply to fill wall space, clumsy rope barriers detract from the items they are protecting, and the finishes in some areas lack finesse.
The exhibition sets out to explain what is known about Tutankhamun, one of the last kings of Egypt's 18th Dynasty.
He was born in about 1343 BC, the son of Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh who introduced a new religion, the worship of the Aten. He became pharaoh at the age of nine or 10, and soon after married his half-sister. The facts of his death, aged 20, are mysterious, but could be as simple as an infection from a broken leg.
Undocumented life
In his time as king, Tutankhamun made little contribution to the Egyptian empire. Records that might have shed more light on his life and achievements are thought to have been destroyed by officials who had not forgiven his father's heresy.
Ironically this meant that his tomb was never found by robbers. Its eventual discovery in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter was to turn the B-list pharaoh into a legend.
However, the exhibition takes in a much broader sweep of Egyptian history than just Tutankhamun's life and death, making it difficult for visitors to pace themselves. There is a great deal of ground to cover, mentally and physically.
Like its main rival attraction, The First Emperor at the British Museum (BM), the Tutankhamun exhibition looks beyond the iconic objects themselves and sets them in a wider historical context.
Meet the family
While the BM does this succinctly, it is done less well here. For anyone whose grasp of ancient Egyptian genealogy is hazy, parts of the exhibition are muddling. There are 50 major objects excavated from Tutankhamun's tomb, but some 70 items from other royal graves of the 18th Dynasty are also featured.
They include those of pharaohs Amenhotep II and his son Tuthmosis IV, and Yuya and Tjuya, parents-in-law of Amenhotep III and great-grandparents of Tutankhamun. Keeping up is not easy.
The redeeming feature of the show is the awe-inspiring beauty of the objects. Among them are impressively large items such as the grey granite statue of Tuthmosis IV and his mother, a richly decorated wooden model boat from Amenhotep's tomb, and the gilded coffin of Tjuya.
Pieces from Tutankhamun's tomb include an unguent jar topped with a delicately carved recumbent lion, his childhood ebony chair, as well as five important items found on the mummy, including the gleaming golden collar in the shape of a falcon worn round his neck.
A well-produced audioguide, smoothly narrated by actor Omar Sharif, adds more detail to the brief object labels.
Creating a powerful finale is hard when the one crucial object is missing. Tutankhamun's famous gold funerary mask is now too fragile to travel.
Instead, visitors are presented with the tiny canopic coffinette that contained his mummified internal organs. It is exquisite, but in display terms, underwhelming.
In the last gallery, the exhibition grinds to a halt with modern CT scans of Tutankhamun's body and BBC news footage of his true face being revealed in Luxor in November 2007, more than 3,200 years after his death.
The exit straight into the gift shop is an inescapable part of the package. Visitors may feel less exploited by knowing that three-quarters of the profit from the tour is to be ploughed back into conservation projects in Egypt.
Penny Ritchie Calder is a writer, consultant and a former head of exhibitions at Imperial War Museum, London
Project data
Cost: Undisclosed
Sponsor: Credit Suisse
Curator: David Silverman
Curatorial adviser: John Taylor
Exhibition design: Arts and Exhibitions International
Exhibition ends: 31 August 2008
