Our family (three adults, a seven-year-old and a two-year-old) attended the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum on 12/18 around 12:30PM.
I had heard mixed reports so was very interested in checking it out for myself. Two families we know attended prior to our visit. One family with tween-aged kids thought it was great. A second family with younger kids was mildly disappointed. A third adult source said it was fantastic.
First the positives: Moving through the eleven galleries took us about an hour. This was a perfect length of time for us. The two-year-old passed out in the sling halfway through, but our older child loved it and wasn’t exhausted at the end.
I had heard mixed reports so was very interested in checking it out for myself. Two families we know attended prior to our visit. One family with tween-aged kids thought it was great. A second family with younger kids was mildly disappointed. A third adult source said it was fantastic.
First the positives: Moving through the eleven galleries took us about an hour. This was a perfect length of time for us. The two-year-old passed out in the sling halfway through, but our older child loved it and wasn’t exhausted at the end.
The journey through the galleries is a lovely introduction to ancient Egypt, and leads eventually to the replica Tut burial chamber complex and the Tut-specific relics.
The exhibition features “more than 100” pieces, which were gorgeously presented, The overhead lighting in the galleries was muted, and there was lovely quiet music throughout. It set a very pleasant tone of quiet and calm.
The exhibition features 50 objects from the tomb of King Tut, including the gold sandals that adorned the mummy's feet and a beautifully adorned gold coffinette that held his mummified internal organs.
In addition to the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun, another 50 ancient artifacts are featured, which highlight many of the most significant rulers of ancient Egypt such as Khafre, whose face adorns the Sphinx in Egypt and the queen who was powerful enough to become king.
The canopic coffinette was breathtaking. The intricacy and detail were amazing, and the inside surfaces had been engraved with spells from the Book of the Dead. This was the one piece I really felt like you could only fully appreciate first-hand. My Trophy Husband liked the Head of Anenhotep III In the Blue Crown the best. My seven-year-old liked everything he saw.
Each case had multiple copies of the accompanying text, so many people were able to read the text from different vantage points. More on this in a moment.
The pieces themselves were breathtaking. There’s something absolutely fantastic about being in the presence of material culture from so long ago. Seeing the size and scale and gorgeous artistry firsthand was amazing. The exhibition is compelling and engaging, and my seven-year-old was thrilled.
I find it viscerally moving to be in the presence of ancient artifacts. I have a soft spot for Old World archaeology, and I genuinely enjoyed much of the exhibition. I peg it around seven on a ten-point scale: overall really good, parts of it were great, but there was definitely some room for improvement.
The first negative was price. We don’t live in Denver and are therefore not members of the DAM. The listed weekend price for non-members is $30 for adults and $16.50 for kids aged 6-17 (kids under 6 are free). Tickets are only available to non-members through resellers like Ticketmaster. After paying the Ticketmaster prices and extra fees to have printable tickets emailed, our total was $127.50. While I do think we got good value for our money, it is a sizable amount that is likely prohibitive for many families.
The Ticketmaster user experience is unfortunately convoluted, and acquiring these costly tickets felt like a real hassle. Procuring tickets should have been as quick and easy as Amazon, but it ate up around twenty valuable minutes of my finite lifespan.
The second negative was the crowding. Eleven big galleries for 100 artifacts sounds a little excessive until you realize that most of the floor space is for queuing and crowd control. Upon entry we were herded into a massive room with roped lanes that reminded me of airport security lines. At one point our line diverged into two: one to rent audio equipment immediately and another leading to a last-chance audio-equipment kiosk.
The crowding inside the galleries was unfortunate. It was very difficult to see many of the objects. My son had a really hard time seeing around the adults. Some people gracefully let him through while a few, serious scholars no doubt, were so intent on studying the pieces that they just crowded small children the hell out of their way.
As I said earlier, every case had multiple copies of the text on all planes of the display. Many had large-font text up high so you could read what you were missing from across the room. Some even had video screens so you could read about and see a picture of the item without getting anywhere near it.
Which brings me to my third criticism: “more than 100” felt like about 101. Which is a lot, but half of it is non-Tut and spread throughout eleven galleries it seemed a little sparse. Also, neither Tut himself nor the iconic gold mask travel outside of Egypt. The reasons for this are obvious, but the exhibition's promotional materials are a little misleading until you dig around in the FAQ section.
The exhibition tries to make up for this by incorporating several fancy video displays. There was a minute-or so long video at a traffic jam near the Statue of Inty-Shedu. The video was about how the pyramid builders were the only ancient Egyptians who wore moustaches, and even today it is the case that stonemasons and whatnot wear moustaches. It was interesting, but it seemed like redundant information right next to the multiple panels of similar text. My son loved the video displays, but I would have preferred more objects and fewer TVs. The endless moustache video loop was something to look at while waiting for the crush of people in front to move ahead so the crush of people from behind could occupy my space.
Some aspects felt a little gimicky--like the canvas tent meant to represent the archaeological tent at the entrance to the tomb. That, and the overwrought video presentation at the very beginning. The exit conveniently dumped us right into the children's section of the exclusive King Tut gift shop.
Like I said, overall it was very good. My criticisms are very similar to those of my friends with the younger kids, so maybe my review is tainted somewhat by confirmation bias. I might have been predisposed to notice the same drawbacks they did. My recommendation is to go, but go on a weekday when it may be less crowded.
Some aspects felt a little gimicky--like the canvas tent meant to represent the archaeological tent at the entrance to the tomb. That, and the overwrought video presentation at the very beginning. The exit conveniently dumped us right into the children's section of the exclusive King Tut gift shop.
Like I said, overall it was very good. My criticisms are very similar to those of my friends with the younger kids, so maybe my review is tainted somewhat by confirmation bias. I might have been predisposed to notice the same drawbacks they did. My recommendation is to go, but go on a weekday when it may be less crowded.
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