Bag fast food’s golden arches and mere paper crowns – instead go to the Field Museum and be captivated by its newest exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs and try Dining Like a King at Lawry’s the Prime Rib.
The King Tut exhibition opens this Friday at the Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr., and boasts over 120 artifacts from ancient Egypt and King Tut’s tomb. Inspired by the exhibit’s opening, Lawry’s, 100 East Ontario St., will offer a prix fixe menu featuring Egyptian delicacies and cocktails until the exhibit’s tour ends Jan. 1, 2007.
Over 195,000 advanced tickets have been sold over the last four months for the Tut exhibition, which is twice the size of the original 1977 exhibit. Almost 30 years ago, 1.3 million people waited and then traipsed through the Field Museum to see the smaller collection.
“Many people fell in love in that three-hour line. Many people probably divorced, too,” says Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Attendance is expected to exceed one million in this year’s run as well, says Schoenly Hixson, an intern at the museum.
The exhibit is designed to draw large crowds to the city and also make Chicago a better place to live, learn and visit, says Randy Mehrberg, a representative of the tour’s Chicago sponsor.
The Tut exhibit shames what now seems ancient – the ’90s Egyptian-themed game show, Legends of the Hidden Temple – and is even mildly entertaining. The intricate exhibition spans 11 galleries; each has a unique theme, such as Daily Life in Ancient Egypt and The Discovery of the Tomb. Some galleries are dark and eerie, with a rhythmic soundtrack playing softly in the background. Others are illuminated with fluorescent orange light.
The artifacts jog memories of elementary school textbook photos and Aladdin. Remember sarcophaguses, scarab beetles and canopic jars? The real deals are much more impressive and create an appreciation for the ancient artifacts’ complexity when compared to, say, the struggle I had making a papier-mache canopic jar in fifth grade – with my mom’s help. The artistry and detail still in existence thousands of years later is breathtaking.
“I remember learning about all the organs that were in canopic jars and that they would pull the brain out through the nose,” says Weinberg sophomore Elin Lindstrom.
While keeping gory details of mummified organs in the back of your mind, the priceless artistry and detail that exists after millennia is admirable.
“It would be cool to see the objects because you’d realize why there were so many tomb raiders, aka Lara Croft,” Lindstrom adds.
Hawass explains that Egypt is trying to recover many artifacts stolen from sites over time, including a burial mask stolen by a museum in St. Louis. because of his passion for recovery and restoration of Egyptian artifacts, Hawass was recently voted one of TIME Magazine’s top 100 people who shape our world.
In honor of the exhibit, Lawry’s, the swanky Chicago restaurant, will have an Egyptian-themed dinner menu, in addition to the regular menu, beginning Friday for parties with reservation of eight or more. Selections include hummus, cucumber salad, and entrees like Fish from the Nile. For dessert, Lawry’s is creating a chocolate Egyptian sculpture filled with hazelnut mousse and raspberry coulis. Guests are also invited to “Drink Like a King” and enjoy special $11 cocktails, cleverly given names like Nutty Tutty and Pharaoh’s Nightcap. The cost of the decadent night, though, runs $48 per person.
For an intimate, after-dinner viewing, the Twilight with Tut experience will be offered 20 different nights throughout the tour. It costs $50 and offers extended hours with fewer crowds along with an audio tour. Dates include Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends.
Normal entrance requires the purchase of an exhibit ticket, which includes museum admission. Part of the proceeds go toward restoration of Egyptian monuments, which belong to everyone all over the world, Hawass says. Tickets are $25 for adults and $22 for students with ID.
King Tut assumed the Egyptian throne at age 10 and died before he turned 20. He was mummified and adorned with over 150 pieces of jewelry and all the necessities for a prosperous afterlife.
After years of searching, archaeologist Howard Carter’s team discovered the 3,000-year-old tomb in November 1922 in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Carter examined the mummy in 1926 despite media frenzy and controversy, but his work left many lingering questions.
“The mystery of his life still eludes us – the shadows move, but the dark is never quite dispersed,” Carter said after his investigation.
Eighty years later, despite further knowledge through better technology, King Tut’s cause of death, exact features and other details remain a mystery.
The Field Museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information please visit www.fieldmuseum.org and www.lawrysonline.com.4
Medill sophomore Deena Bustillo is a PLAY assistant editor. She can be reached at d-bustillo@northwestern.edu.
