Tut glut not quite what it was last time around

Jul. 17--Though it has not had the same gee-whiz, near non-stop media attention that the 1977 "Treasures of Tutankhamun" exhibition enjoyed, this year's King Tut show at the Field Museum has all the signs of being a blockbuster in its own right.

Visitors--including those who also saw the 1977 show--seem pleased with the new extravaganza, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," featuring selected riches buried with the boy king 3,400 years ago. Lines to get in have been long and constant, forming before the museum opens at 8 a.m.; tickets usually sell out by early afternoon every day, often by 9 a.m. on weekends.

"Your best bet is to get here early in the morning to buy a ticket for the same day," spokeswoman Pat Kremer said recently as she walked through the Field Museum's air-conditioned east entrance hall, where people waited to enter the exhibition. "We have lines waiting outside every morning before we unlock the doors."

To accommodate weekend crowds, the museum has begun opening its doors at 7:30 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, a half-hour earlier than the rest of the week.

Advance sales account for 85 percent of ticket purchases, either online or through a dedicated phone number, 866-FIELD-03. Some visitors, discovering tickets are gone for the day they want to go, are paying more than $100 a ticket to online scalpers.

The museum, which hoped to sell 350,000 advance and same-day tickets by the end of June, had sold 360,000 by midnight June 30 and since has surpassed 400,000. That's a good indication that the museum will fulfill its hope for more than a million visitors to the traveling exhibition by the time it closes Jan. 1.

Those numbers are considered impressive, especially because two popular temporary exhibitions are running at other museums. A show devoted to the inventive mind and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci and a display of lizards, including a Komodo dragon, have boosted summer business at the Museum of Science and Industry and the Shedd Aquarium, respectively, though neither institution has released attendance figures.

If Tut does draw 1 million visitors, it would be the highest attendance for any exhibition at a Chicago museum since the 1977 Tut show drew 1.36 million people to the Field in just four months. Since then, major museums have sought to organize or bring in shows that could attract the public in similar numbers. A million-seller usually ensures a windfall for a museum through admissions, memberships, souvenir and restaurants sales, and party rentals.

Tut clearly still has the ability to attract big audiences. After the Field announced a year ago that Tut would return this year, Adler Planetarium and the Oriental Institute planned Tut-related exhibitions of their own, anticipating high public interest.

Few exhibitions can draw bring in a million people, however. In Chicago, the 1995 Monet retrospective drew 965,000 visitors. A display of artifacts recovered from the Titanic brought in 850,000 at the Museum of Science and Industry in 2000.

Though Tut will be here for seven months, it probably will fall short of the attendance record--mainly because of new fire codes that limit the number of people admitted to 360 an hour.

Still, some visitors complain that crowds are so large this year that they had trouble seeing everything.

"I think they let too many people in at one time," said Gary Fisk, 57, of Morton, Ill., a physician's assistant who drove to Chicago with his daughter and her husband recently to attend the show.

"It is difficult to see everything in an orderly manner."

Visitors who had seen the 1977 Tut exhibition were divided on which one they liked more.

"I saw it as a youngster in 1977 when I came here with our church youth group," said Clare Beven, 51, of Marshall, Ill., a schoolteacher who came to the show with her son, Andrew, 17.

"I was most impressed then by the big gold coffin mask from Tut's coffin, which isn't here this time, so that was a disappointment," she said. "But I think that this new show is more impressive to me than the earlier one, probably because I have a greater appreciation now than I had then for what all of this means."

Chicago psychologist Alan J. Ward, 70, who came with his wife, Louella, 55, said he thought this year's exhibition fell short, failing to put Tut "into context" with the larger picture of ancient Egyptian history.

"We both saw the 1977 exhibit," said Ward, who is something of an Egyptophile, having traveled throughout Egypt to its sites of antiquity. "The earlier one was more complete. It's very, very good, and people ought to see it. But it could have been better."

Most people come away excited, however.

"We thought this was a fantastic experience, so well put together," said Albert Bleakley, 86, a former Homewood resident who retired to Fayetteville, N.C. He came to see Tut with his wife, daughters, sons-in-law and a granddaughter while in Chicago for an annual family reunion.

"You have to expect crowds at an event like this," said his daughter Barbara Walenga, 46, of Elmhurst. "It's not so bad; you just have to be patient, and you will see everything you want to see."

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Oh, but there's still more Tut

Fans of the Field Museum's temporary exhibition of the splendors of King Tut's tomb also can view Tutankhamun shows at two other city museums.

Through Oct. 8, the Oriental Institute, 1155 E. 58th St., in the heart of the University of Chicago campus, will feature a display of the surprisingly elegant photographs taken of Tut's tomb as it was opened in November 1922 by archeologist Howard Carter.

The photos were made by British photographer Harry Burton. Trained in photographing fine art objects, he happened to be in Egypt when Carter discovered Tut's tomb and asked Burton to help him record the event. The resulting photos arguably are works of art in themselves, many preserving the palpable excitement of the moment-by-moment discovery Carter and his crew experienced.

The Oriental Institute also is highlighting Tut-related artifacts in its permanent collection, including a 17-foot Tut statue, the largest ancient Egyptian statue in the Americas, and plates used by priests for ritual feasting during Tut's funeral.

Tut-related shows will be featured through Jan. 1 in both of the planetarium's sky-gazing theaters. The Sky Theater re-creates the night sky in Tut's time, telling how ancient Egyptians incorporated the sky in their daily life and religion. The computer-driven SkyRider Theater takes viewers on a digitally re-created tour of the temples and tombs of Tut's time, including a look at the boy king's tomb and the sumptuous treasure he was buried with.

Tickets for the planetarium's "Egyptian Universe" package of the two shows cost $20 for adults, $19 for seniors and $18 for children, with $2 discounts for Chicago residents. At the Oriental Institute museum, the suggested donation is $5 for adults and $2 for children.

William Mullen

wmullen@tribune.com

Check out a map of the exhibit and test your Tut knowledge at chicagotribune.com/tut

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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune

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