Finally got around to seeing the Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit that’s been showing at San Francisco’s De Young Museum since June. But as Steve Martin said: “If I’d known/They’d line up just to see him/I’d have taken all my money/And bought me a museum.” And yes, the lines have been long. Judging by the roped off entrances that wind around and around, the lines are still just as long. But here’s the trick. Be the first one on a weekday with your nose pressed up to the glass BEFORE opening. Better yet, be a member and you get let in a half hour before general admission. We had most of the exhibit to ourselves and even a fairly uncrowded stroll through the Tut gift shops (there seem to be three!) before all hell broke loose in the form of dozens of school buses showing up and disgorging class trips. By that time, we’d Tut Shopped until we’d nearly dropped and were reviving ourselves in the excellent De Young cafe.
Cool Tut Swag. Don't laugh, the bust is surprisingly well made with a marble base. Perfect for holding up that commemorative hardcover exhibit catalog.
I’m not going to tell you about the show, other than to say, “Go”. Apparently, the exhibit is bigger and includes artifacts not seen in the 70s tour (except for the death mask and sarcophagus which the Egyptian government won’t let out of the country any more.)
How can you resist a present gift-wrapped in hieroglyphics paper? And you get a great carry bag like the one at the beginning of this post.
But I’ll urge you to do what we did and spend, spend, spend at the gift shops. Apparently, income from these sales are key for the De Young’s operating budget. And what’s wrong with a little commercialism for a good cause? Don’t want to give anything away, but everyone on my Christmas gift list, be expecting Tut memorabilia. And since I’m just days away from my trip to Vegas and stay at the Luxor, I’m now loaded up on faux Egyptian wearable items!
The fridge magnet? I mean, Tut and the Golden Gate, together at last! And the earrings? Perfect for Vegas.
The exhibit moves on to Denver in March and then to New York. So, if you don’t see it here, see it there. It’s supposed to be in Toronto as well, but since that exhibit is scheduled now, while the best stuff is in San Francisco, it may be just a companion show. As in, not as good.
Come to think of it, the San Francisco venue has got to be the best. We've got Sphinxes. And palm trees. "Rockin' by the Nile".
The new De Young even looks vaguely Egyptian. Well, if the Egyptians built low horizontal buildings out of beaten metal.
And because, it’s the immediate association when someone says “King Tut”, how about a little vintage Steve Martin:
The King Tut skit first aired on NBC’s Saturday Night Live
Here in Memphis we have a stainless steel pyramid (actual size) and a very large statue of Ramesses II. The pyramid used to host the University of Memphis basketball season and was then called “the Tomb of Doom.” How aptly named–as soon as the NBA moved to town, the pyramid was doomed to darkness by the taxpayer-funded FedEx Forum.
I so wanted to see that when I was in SF last month but knew it would be a zoo. My cousin & her family went to Egypt this fall & I think one of the highlights for them was actually going in the tomb. BTW my mom & dad live right across the river from the Pyramid in Memphis.