Somewhere last week I learned that there was in Amsterdam a exhibition about the pharaoh Tutankhamun (or “Toetanchamon” as is often is called in Dutch), his tomb and his treasures. I always had an interest in the pharaohs, their time and specially the things they built.
The exhibition was at the “Amsterdam Expo”, which is very good for me to reach. So the decisions was quickly made and today I went there.
Everyone knows the pyramids and that these were the graves of kings and pharaohs. But because the pyramids are so recognizable, they were an easy target for grave robbers. For this reason underground tombs were used and a lot of them can be found in the Valley of the Kings. But over time also these tombs were visited by grave robbers and often everything of value was removed.
But there was one tomb that was never found and that was the tomb of the teen pharaoh from 18th dynasty: Tutankhamun…
It was Howard Carter who in 1922 after a long search finally found the tomb of Tutankhamun. Ironically it was direct next to entrance of The Valley of the Kings. No one wanted to dig there, because it would look not nice for all the tourists that already over then visited those areas. And what Howard Carter found was amazing… the only ever found untouched and complete intact tomb of a pharaoh.
In the last room of the tomb they found 4 shrines placed in each other. The 3 outer ones decorated with many hieroglyphs on pure gold. Many of the hieroglyphs are referring to deities or were there with the meaning to give protection. The fourth and innermost shrine was made of gilded wood.
Inside the innermost shrines there where 3 coffins as Russian Matroesjka’s puppets fit together. Each coffin again with many decorations made of pure gold. And inside of the remains of “King Tut” (as he was called in a popular way), the pharaoh who died on age of 18 years, but changed a lot for Egypt. With him the 18th Dynasty ended as there was no one in his bloodline to succeed him.
After all the research the remains of Tutankhamun were placed back in the tomb, as Howard Carter wanted it. It is not possible to visited the tomb anymore, because of all the damage tourist caused. There is replica for tourists nowadays.
All the items at the exhibition in Amsterdam are replica’s as well. The real items are too fragile to be transported. Also the risk of theft is way too high.
It is allowed to take pictures at the exhibition, but flash and tripods are not allowed. So with a simple common compact camera (or a smartphone) you may have problems to make good pictures. Anyway, I made many pictures. In the coming days I place the best on my own photo-site and/or Flickr.
If you have any interest in things as described in this article, I would really you to go to this exhibition and have a look around. I showed and told just a few things that can be seen and learned there. It is really very nice… The exhibition will be at Amsterdam Expo until May 5th this year
Daar has ik ook wel heen gewild. Als ik het geweten had, was ik wel jouw richting opgekomen.
Dan gaan we binnenkort toch nog een keertje? Ik wil het nog wel allemaal een keer zien.