100 years of fascination and mystery around the young pharaoh

It is still one of the most visited sites in the world. In the heart of the Valley of the Kings, in Egyptthe tomb of Tutankhamun has not ceased to fascinate for 100 years. It was on November 4, 1922 that Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, made the major discovery. Its teams dig the earth and sand to clear steps that sink into the ground. A first door appears, the antechamber.

Then, after a year of excavations, a second door was discovered: that of the tomb. “It is obviously wonder, since by slipping a lamp into the hole, he sees in the flickering light, an incredible pile of objects, one more beautiful than the other, in a terrible disorder.“, explains Christophe Barbotin, general curator of the “Egyptian antiquities” department of the Louvre Museum. Nearly 5,500 objects crammed it ago more than 30 centuries to accompany a young pharaoh to the other world surround the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. Fascinated by the 10 kg gold funerary mask, archaeologists will have little regard for the mummy, whose skull will be destroyed after this mask has been ripped off. A few months after this discovery, the patron of Howard Carter dies in Cairo (Egypt). A businessman who visits the tomb dies suddenly, as well as a radiologist who examines the mummy. It is therefore enough for us to attribute these deaths to Tutankhamun’s revenge. The legend of the curse was born.