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April 7, 2008
King Tut: A coup for Carlos

By KIM URQUHART

The anticipation built with each note emanating from professor William Ransom’s piano. Clad in white robes, eyes lined in kohl, Theater Emory students ceremoniously unfurled a scroll to reveal the Carlos Museum’s secret: an all-new King Tut exhibition will premiere in Atlanta.

“Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” will be presented by the Carlos Museum in partnership with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and presenting sponsor Northern Trust. When it opens at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center on Nov. 15, visitors can view many artifacts never before seen in the United States.

“This exhibition is one of the most important Egyptian exhibitions and one of the world’s greatest cultural legacies,” said Terry Adamson, National Geographic Society’s executive vice president and Emory alum.
Among the 130 treasures that span 2,000 years of Egyptian history will be legendary artifacts from King Tut’s tomb, including jewelry, furniture and weaponry. Visitors can also learn more about the life — and mysterious death — of the boy king through recent CT scans conducted on his mummy.

To complement the exhibition, the Carlos Museum will showcase the photography of Harry Burton, who documented the discovery of King Tut’s nearly intact tomb in 1922. The Carlos will also lead development of educational materials in conjunction with the exhibition.

Other events to elucidate the life and times of Tutankhamun include a January 2009 Candler Concert Series premiere of “Ahknaten,” composer Philip Glass’ libretto co-written with Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Shalom Goldman (see Emory Report, Sept. 5, 2000).

That the Carlos was able to land the all-new exhibition — with an expected $150 million economic impact on Atlanta — was due in large part to the friendship between Peter Lacovara, Carlos’ senior curator of ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern art, and Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

“When we heard the first Tut show was circulating, we asked if Atlanta could possibly be a venue,” Lacovara recalled. “Hawass mentioned he was work-ing on something else he thought would be an even better fit.”
The Carlos, known for its Egyptian collections and act of cultural cooperation when it identified and later returned a mummy to Egypt in 2003, was able to offer the scholars and curators to maintain and understand these important artifacts.

“Our hope for the long term is that [the exhibition] will increase the profile of Egyptology at Emory and help expand our resources,” said Lacovara.