King Tut, who has fueled romanticism about Ancient Egypt, continues to live in our imaginations, as the touring treasures from his tomb attract millions of visitors to museums around the world. The Dallas Museum of Art announced today that it will be the next venue for”Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” in October 2008. king-tut-exhibit-to-return-to-the-us-for-encore-tour.htm

The exhibit will come to the DMA after the current London engagement, and it will be the first time these artifacts will be seen in the Southwest. Comprised by over 130 materials from Tutankhamen’s tomb and other sites, Dallas is getting a selection of new artifacts that haven’t left Egypt before.

The DMA exhibit is the encore U.S. tour since it had been touring four American museums, starting June 2005 until last month. The last stop at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia became the most popular exhibit in the state’s history according to the press release.

I remember when Dallas landed another Egytian exhibit on Rameses, shown at Fair Park and people flocked to it, but this is far more exciting because of the beautiful, gilded artifacts that make tomb robbers salivate. As a child I remember reading about Howard Carter, the British archaeologist, who discovered the tomb in 1921, and even he came to believe in the famed curse of King Tut for disturbing his tomb. All of this made me keep reading about Ancient Egypt in order to know what the art meant.

So this exhibit has everything: mystery, clues to the past and great artifacts. We’ll see where the Steve Martin dance fits in!