Tut tut, new curse at Dome

The gold mask seen by 1.7 million Britons in 1972

5 April 2012

When Howard Carter opened up the tomb of Tutankhamun more than 80 years ago, there were grim predictions that all who entered the burial chamber would be cursed from that day forth.

And when Tony Blair opened that great tomb which was the Millennium Dome, it soon became apparent that all involved with that misguided venture would be cursed, too.

The Curse of King Tut soon turned out to be a load of old baloney. But the Curse of the Millennium Dome? Alive and kicking, it would seem.

The big Tutankhamun show which will launch the new exhibition centre at the Dome - or the O2 Centre as it is now known - has been struck by controversy before it has even opened.

The Pharaoh's gold death mask - the centrepiece of the original Tutankhamun exhibition in Britain in 1972 and the artefact which everyone remembers - will not be part of the exhibition, prompting almost inevitable disappointment for the thousands of visitors who are expected to see the show.

The exhibition has already toured the US and sparked anger online with message boards complaining bitterly of feeling "cheated" and "deceived".

Promotional images appear to show the funerary mask - but are in fact close-ups of a miniature coffin used to store the king's liver.

There will be 130 precious finds, including 50 from the legendary pharaoh's tomb, but the death mask, made of gold inlaid with coloured glass and semi-precious stones, will be noticeable by its absence.

Organisers, headed by Zahi Hawass, secretarygeneral of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, today confirmed that the mask is no longer permitted to leave its native country because of fears for its fragility.

The show was a great success in America despite the online controversy when visitors claimed the publicity shots were cropped in such a way as to make the coffinette appear to be the funerary mask.

Jason Coyne, a visitor to the Chicago exhibition, which charged $25 admission, posted a review under the heading: 'Underwhelming and misadvertised - where is the death mask?'Referring to the publicity shots, he said: "I think 99 per cent of all viewers would assume it is the mask."

One internet blogger agreed: "There were enough major omissions to raise some ethical questions." Another added: "The exhibit[ion] was totally misrepresented."

Despite the furore in the US, the 02 hopes its exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, will prove as much of a hit with British audiences when it opens in November as the British Museum show 35 years ago, when a record 1.7 million visited the event, resulting in eight-hour queues.

The mask is currently on display surrounded by security guards and under low-level lighting at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.

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Tut tut, new curse at Dome

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