Review: Tutankhamun’s treasures awe visitors at Saatchi Gallery

Parents wanting to intoduce their children to Ancient Egypt this year might feel they’re in luck. It’s not often we have a vast collection of treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb on our doorstep, and it’s not likely to happen again. But right now, families have a unique opportunity to visit Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh at Chelsea’s Saatchi Gallery–an exhibition that marks the final stop on the world tour showcasing objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh, an exhibition I was invited to review and also visited after purchasing tickets myself, showcases 150 artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb, making it the largest collection of Tutankhamun’s treasures ever to leave Egypt.

Colossal Quartzite Statue of Tutankhamun (Credit: Laboratoriorosso, Viterbo, Italy)

After getting through the outdoor queue for your time slot and the bag check, visitors have an opportunity to get an audioguide before moving into a cinema room. The tour starts with an introductory video about Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, and provides visitors with a brief background on the significance of this archeological find, which was the most complete Egyptian tomb ever to be found.

Visitors then continue their tour in the galleries spread over several floors, and throughout there’s a focus on the meaning of the burial items and why the objects were believed to be important for Tutankhamun as he journeyed to his after life. The exhibition introduces visitors to the role of the gods the pharaoh needed for support and protection on this journey, and the rituals conducted to ensure immortality.

Some of the exhibition highlights include striking jewellery and gold ornaments that adorned the mummy, including gold and jewelled bands wrapped around him and a pectoral hung around his neck. There’s also a gilded wooden bed, highlighting how the ancient egyptians believed the dead were merely sleeping, and a Gold Ba-Bird pectoral, with Ba representing the aspect of an individual the flew from the body at the moment of death. The bed and the Gold Ba-Bird pectoral are two of the 60 artefacts in the exhibition that can be seen outside Egypt for the first time.

In the final gallery, there’s a colossal quartzite statue, which was originally more than five metres tall. The statue is believed to be reminiscent of Tutankhamun with his youthful features, but his successors Ay and Horemheb had their names inscribed on the statue and this is the only item in the exhibition found outside the tomb.

After the exhibition finishes on 3 May, this vast collection of Tutankhamun’s treasures will be returned to Egypt to go on permanent display at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh presented by Viking Cruises is at the Saatchi Gallery until 3 May 2020. For tickets, please visit: www.tutankhamun-london.com.

Tags: Ancient Egypt, Family attractions, Family day out, Review, Saatchi Gallery, Tutankhamun