London weekend breaks to see Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun & the Golden Age of Pharaohs at the 02 Millennium Dome, Greenwich, London
London weekend breaks to the Tutankhamun exhibition may be your best bet to be sure of tickets. The exhibition is likely to be a sell out. Over 2 million visitors are expected to apply for Tutankhamun tickets at the Dome and tickets are selling out fast. Last time the treasures were in London in 1972 ( yes it was that long ago!) there were very long queues. Some people waited for over eight hours to get in to see the exhibits. the 1972 exhibition attracted 1.7 million visitors. This time numbers will be far higher.Between 15 November 2007 and 30 August 2008, there are only 35 weekends so when are you going to take a weekend break to see King Tut and the Pharaohs in London?
**Book Tutankhamun London Weekend Breaks**
As a child I remember seeing colour photos of all the treasures in a newspaper and longing to go. London was too far away and hotels too dear then for ordinary families to manage it for just a weekend. That's not the case now though! There are some excellent deals for family breaks with train and hotel included. The 1972 exhibition sparked a huge interest in ancient history and all thing Egyptian that swept the country. The papers were full of stories of King Tut mania and some likened it to the adulation shown to the Beatles! The post office sold over 56 million commemorative stamps to mark the exhibition. I wonder whatever happened to my First Day Covers....Now for the first time in 30 years the Tutankhamun exhibition returns to London.
Tutankhamun's Death Mask
Sadly the death mask is not allowed to leave Egypt and is not included in the exhibition. They haven't tried to re-create it. They've decided the exhibition should only contain authentic artefacts, but the canopic coffinette is quite similar in style to the mask and that is definitely included in the exhibition.
What you will see
More than 130 artefacts from the tomb of the Pharaoh and other artefacts from the Valley of the Kings will be shown. Very few, only seven items in fact, have been seen in London before and the capital is the only European city to host the treasures. There were only 50 items in that first exhibition in London. This one is going to be much bigger and even more spectacular.Two of the Must See Treasures
- Tutankhamun's royal diadem - the gold crown discovered on the head of the mummy. The Diadem represents the vulture of the south and the cobra of the north and is thought to have been worn by the boy king during his ceremonial duties.
- A gold and precious stone inlaid coffinette that contained his mummified internal organs.
