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La Sucrière welcomes “Tutankhamun, discovering the forgotten pharaoh”. An exhibition that traces how the burial was found a century ago. The visitor also dives back 33 centuries thanks to the identical reconstruction of the tomb.
In 1917, the Egyptologist and archaeologist Howard Carter set out to find the tomb of Tutankhamun in the famous Valley of the Kings, a region of Egypt where many tombs of pharaohs had already been discovered. After five fruitless years, in 1922, he finally found the tomb of the so-called forgotten pharaoh. Tutankhamun is a young pharaoh with a tragic destiny, who died at the age of 18 or 19. His short-lived reign, ten years, did not allow him to make a name for himself in the history of ancient Egypt. Finally, he will become famous 3,200 years after his death thanks to the discovery of his tomb.
This discovery is exceptional because the burial is full of valuable archaeological objects. “But above all, we discover objects that have allowed us to better understand the daily life of Egyptians in terms of food, drinks, music, arts”, says Alain Mager, managing director of Eurepa expo.
The exhibition “Tutankhamun, discovering the forgotten pharaoh” at the Sucrière in Lyon explains how the tomb was found a century ago. The visitor then discovers what Howard Carter saw a century earlier. The three funerary chambers have been reconstructed using the techniques of the time. “The frescoes were redone identically, that is to say with the same pigments used by the Egyptians, with the same equipment”, says Cédric Moulart, director of the Tempora exhibitions.
In all, 250 objects were reproduced. Facsimiles made in the workshops of the Cairo Museum. Two years of work will have been necessary to recreate, in Lyon, Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs.
Exposure Tutankhamun. Discovering the forgotten pharaoh, the Sucriere, 49-50 Quai Rambaud 69002 Lyon