Tutankhamun: The Last Exhibition is a documentary film which premiered in 2021.
The original version of this film is Italian. This review is based on an English version of the film which was aired on Australian television (SBS) in 2022.
It is about the careful and complicated preparations for an exhibition about the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun which was held in Los Angeles in 2019.
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Ernesto Pagano
** Narrator: Iggy Pop
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 78 minutes
Today, the name Tutankhamun is known all over the world. He is perhaps the most famous of all the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.
In antiquity, the situation was completely different. In his own time, Tutankhamun was neither powerful nor well-known. Why not? There are several reasons:
# 1. He was only a boy when he became pharaoh. Born in 1341 BC, he became pharaoh in 1332. He was not even ten years old when he became pharaoh.
# 2. His life was short. His rule was shorter. He ruled until 1323 BC. His rule lasted less than a decade.
# 3. He was the son of Akhenaton, who was regarded as a heretic. His father had changed the Egyptian religion from a system with many gods to a system with only one god, the sun god Aton.
Under Tutankhamun, the old gods were restored, but he was still seen as an embarrassment, because he was a reminder of his father, the heretic.
# 4. When he died in 1323 BC, the ruling elite arranged a funeral for the young man. They buried him in a tomb, and then they decided to forget him.
His name was erased from most inscriptions.
It was as if he had never existed.
In 1922, the British Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Carter had come across the name Tutankhamun. He was convinced that there must be a tomb for this person somewhere in the Valley of the Kings.
For several years, his search was in vain. But in 1922, he finally found what he had been searching for.
He discovered the tomb of the boy pharaoh and when this happened, things began to change.
What is so special about this tomb?
It is the only ancient Egyptian tomb which was discovered (almost) intact. Other tombs are large but almost empty when they were discovered in modern times.
The tomb of Tutankhamun is small, but it was filled with numerous and precious items.
Once the tomb was discovered, every item found inside (whether it was small or large) was carefully registered with drawings and photographs.
Many historical moments during this process were also recorded on film, which was still a relatively new way of preserving significant events.
The items discovered in the tomb were transported to Cairo where they were placed on display in the Egyptian Museum which had been established only twenty years before (1902).
The discovery of the ancient tomb was reported in newspapers all over the world. Suddenly, the young pharaoh who had been forgotten in the past became famous; he became a symbol of ancient Egypt.
In the 1960s and the 1970s, the Egyptian government wanted to promote the Egyptian tourism industry. The government decided that Tutankhamun could travel to other countries.
Several precious items from his tomb were transported to foreign cities where they were put on display in exhibitions which attracted large crowds.
Over the years, Tutankhamun visited several European cities, such as Berlin, Paris, and London.
He also crossed the Atlantic Ocean to visit the United States and Canada. He even visited the Soviet Union.
In the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Egyptian government planned to send the famous pharaoh on a grand world tour to different continents.
According to the plan, the tour would begin in 2018 and continue until 2022. When this grand tour was completed, he would return to Egypt, but not to his old home: the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Instead, he would have a new home, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which the Egyptian government was building in Giza, west of the capital, not far from the three famous pyramids which are built on the Giza Plateau.
The Egyptian government announced that the grand tour would be the last time Tutankhamun would be allowed to travel abroad.
After the grand tour, he would never leave Egypt again. He would stay in Egypt forever.
If foreigners wanted to see the famous pharaoh and the precious items from his tomb, they would have to come to Egypt.
The members of the Egyptian government could not know that their carefully crafted plan would be disturbed by events over which they had no control.
They could not know about the Corona Virus. They could
not know about the Covid-19 Pandemic which would cause their plan and many
other plans to be cancelled or put on hold.
The exhibitions planned for 2020 and 2021 could not take place. The plan had to change. The plan for the grand tour had to be modified because of the pandemic.
The exhibition planned for Los Angeles in 2019 was the last exhibition in more than one way. It was the last tour of Tutankhamun. It was also the last exhibition before everything was stopped by Covid-19.
In this film, we can follow the careful and complicated preparations for the exhibition which was held in Los Angeles in 2019. We learn that it is a very delicate operation:
** Step 1
Each item must be removed from a glass counter.
** Step 2
Each item must be packed and placed in a box (a wooden crate) which can be shipped from place to place.
** Step 3
When the box arrives at the destination, each item must be removed and placed in another glass counter.
** Step 4
When the exhibition is over, the procedure must be repeated: from the glass counter to the box.
** Step 5
Once each item has been packed in a box, it is ready to continue to the next destination.
Every step of this procedure must be carefully registered. Not a single item can go missing!
** All items are more than 3000 years old!
** All items are fragile, precious, and irreplaceable!
In this film, we follow the delicate operation. We learn about the difficulties which the organizers are facing.
We learn how they deal with them. How they solve the problems which are connected with this operation.
If you are interested in the history of the ancient world – in particular the history of ancient Egypt – this film is definitely something for you.
It is highly recommended.
PS. I have been to Egypt two times: in 1992 and in 2010. While I was there, I visited several locations, including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
On both occasions, I saw the fascinating items from the tomb of Tutankhamun.
REFERENCES
Tutankhamun in Colour
(2020) (BBC 4)
Run time: 59 minutes
Valley of the Kings:
The Lost Tombs
(2021) (Discovery)
Run time: 88 minutes
The Relics of Egypt:
Exploring the Largest Museum in the World
A documentary film which premiered in 2021
The topic of this film is the building of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza which is now expected to open to the public in 2023
Run time: 55 minutes
Tutankhamun:
Allies & Enemies
A documentary film in two parts which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2022
This film premiered in 2022 in order to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of the tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922
Run time: 2 x 53 minutes = 106 minutes
The Champollion Adventure
A documentary film which premiered in 2022
Long version: 92 minutes
Short version: 55 minutes
Decoding Hieroglyphics
A documentary film which premiered in 2022
Run time: 55 minutes
*****
Tutankhamun
The royal chair
*****
Tutankhamun
Wall painting in the royal tomb
*****
Tutankhamun
The Last Exhibition
*****
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