Did anyone else visit the Tutankhamen exhibition in 1972 at the British Museum?

[Fordian]

‘The Treasures of Tutankhamen’. Just watching Prof Alice Roberts on her train trip down the Nile, reminded me of our family day out, aged 9, queuing for maybe 2 hours to get in?

We went Egyptian mad at primary school, and lots of TV shows.

It was amazing. Dark room, beautifully lit. We were ferried past the death mask on little travelators? Or just shuffled quickly? - no lingering (like the Crown Jewels, now!), with people watching through horizontal slits around the walls, but the IRA were the concern, not theft. You could see the glint of their glasses through the slits.

We also got to see the mummies! Now, understandably, unacceptable.

Was amazed to see the same gold death mask, ‘77; in Cairo, apparently casually drop-kicked into a municipal museum dusty case, ‘guarded’ by a tired old bloke snoozing over a rifle as protection…🤭

Yes!

Went with my Mum, Dad and Canadian cousins.

I recall exiting the section with the mummies and a curator in uniform asking had I seen a particular mummy. Can't remember now whether he called it 'Ginger' or 'Curly' - it had one ginger curl right at the front...I found it quite scary.

I wasn’t born until a few years later, but we had a copy of the big exhibition souvenir book in our house when I was little. I have a memory of sitting on the floor leafing through it to look at the pictures.

Yes me! I was about seven. Remember it so clearly - the hall getting darker and darker until you came to the mask! I also had the souvenir book and think it might be in the loft!

Not in 72 but I went to the British museum a few years ago and i thought they still had mummies then? Maybe about 7 years ago?

No, but I went to the Treasures of Tutankhamen exhibition at Saatchi gallery a few years back.

Gold death mask on the posters, gold death mask nick-nacks for sale in the gift shop…no gold death mask in the exhibition. I can still taste the disappointment.

Bastards.

I went to the exhibition in Edinburgh in about 88 with my school.

The exhibits were amazing but no queuing to get in (maybe because the school had booked it?), and no people watching through slits in the walls and plenty of lingering.

They still have mummies in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. They are amazing but also it's horrible to think that they are real human beings who belong somewhere else.

It was huge in our memories! Someone threw the exhibition booklet out from our place a while ago, but I remember it. It was scary, my bro, 2 years older than me, got a bit obsessed, to the point he was convinced there was a mummy in our outside (not only) loo… 🤭 He wound me up sufficiently that we sat on our front lawn one summer Friday evening, waiting for our parents to return from the Friday evening supermarket shop as we were too scared to go indoors, as OBVIOUSLY the mummy of Tutankhamen was awaiting two Wiltshire primary- schoolers…

I wasn't born then but I wish I could have seen it! Some of the treasures were damaged during their tour of the world so they'll never be exhibited like that again.

OP, an "immersive exhibition" of Tutankhamen and other Ancient Egyptian relics is coming to London at the end of this month for 14 weeks, if that appeals. It's not quite the real thing but might be quite interesting.

I didn't but my aunt did and sent me a postcard, which I had for years! I can picture it now.

Yes, the getting darker, and more closed in, like approaching a high altar, the death mask!

@Fordian yes I remember people talking of the curse, and being really frightened after in case I’d managed to invoke it!

Yes went with my school. Stunning.

I remember the excitement around it. And then on a visit to London we saw the queue at the BM and realised we'd never get in. Maybe you were in the queue that day @Fordian

Yes, The Curse was a really big part. And played up, big time.

No but I took my (then) 8yr old son to the Tutankhamun London Exhibition at the 02 in 2008.

I think we queued at least 2-3 hours, @franke. It was a long time!

I didn't go - we lived in Scotland - but I had a Tutankhamen necklace which someone brought back from the exhibition and I loved it. I wore it all the time. It was such a huge event - I was obsessed with everything ancient Eqyptian.

I’m about to talk bollocks, but I think I recall the death mask travelled to London in a -um- margarine shipment? It was uninsurable. I recall our school master at the time, explaining the meaning of priceless!

My Mum took us when we little. Can't remember much about it except the queueing! I've got the exhibition book though. Found it in my Mum's book collection when she died - must have meant a lot to her.

Yes. And Pompei the following year. I remember long queues outside for hours. I cannot remember what we did for food or toilets or anything relating to our needs. There were no timed tickets, you queued and if you were lucky you got in. I would have been 7. I just remember the golden mask in a case. Not much more.

Yes! I was seven at the time and, unfortunately, my only recollection of the exhibition itself is the gold and blue mask.

What I do remember vividly, however, is the incredibly long queue to get in. People with loudspeakers were announcing that entry was unlikely that day. Vendors were selling bags of monkey nuts to those waiting, and my parents bought some for us. My older sister, brother, and I were sitting on a wall when, all of a sudden, the queue surged forward as a large group was let in. My siblings immediately jumped down and ran ahead with my parents. Being too small to jump, I did the only sensible thing and screamed! Thankfully, my father came back to rescue me.

I’ve seen the gold death mask in the Egyptian museum in Cairo, and the other treasures. Also seen his mummy in the valley of the kings.
went to the saatchi exhibition twice before lockdown too.
Of course I’m doing the immersive thing next week - can’t wait!

My Dad saw the exhibition in 1972.

I think i saw this in the British Museum on a school trip either in the late 1980s/ early 1990s.

I went to the recent exhibition in the Saatchi gallery as well.

Feeling old here as we went to the BM in summer 72 to see the Treasures, and queued (on a hot dry day) for at least a couple of hours for admission. I still have a handful of postcards, including the blue and gold mask. We must have stayed with my aunt as we lived in Cornwall then.