goingsomewhere

I went to the King Tut exhibit in LA over the holiday weekend. It was pretty packed; it felt like Disneyland.

I also felt it was overpriced.

IMHO, the audio tour was a rip off...not worth $6. Having heard audio tours on other tours, the Tut audio was lacking in insight and in depth.

The displays were poorly done. Objects were encased to protect it, but the signs at the base were quite small. Since there were crowds, you're going to have to be a bit aggressive to move to the front to read the signs, unless you want to spend all day waiting for others to move along.

sadiqhassan

Sounds horrible

Hopefully a weekday would be better
Do you know when it ends?

Cheers

goingsomewhere

I believe the LA exhibit closes November 15, before it moves on to another US city that I am unsure of.

For those who want tickets, they're available at http://www.ticketmaster.com. Search for "King Tut."

KatTwinkles

I saw the exhibit on Friday night at 7:00 and I thought it was nice. The only part I did not like was the crowd but they were workable with a little patience. The ticket prices were high but it really did not surprise me as that aspect had received a good bit of press - I knew it and still decided to go. I think a weekend day would be much worse for crowds so I would try to avoid those - Friday night was OK and you could also plan to be there for Friday Night Jazz at LACMA (5:30 to 8:30). I enjoyed the audio tour but I think there could have been more audio opportunities throughout the exhibit.

FYI - Coupon codes are available from Ralph's for a 10% discount off the ticket price (via www.ticketmaster.com). The codes are:

AKINGRALPHS for Adult tickets
JKINGRALPHS for Child tickets
SKINGRALPHS for Senior tickets

Nanook

There was a special exhibit about 4 years ago at LACMA on Egypt. We bought the tickets, stood in the long line outside to get in, and then couldn't see anything once we got in because of all the bodies standing in front of the exhibits. Yes, it does require patience, and a lot of it. If the fire marshall had seen how many people were crammed into that room, I'm sure he would have made at least half the people leave. Due to that bad experience, I've never taken in another LACMA special exhibit. It's just not worth it. There must be a museum somewhere out there who will have this exhibition next, where it might be put in a larger exhibition space.

Non-NonRev

I'm old enough to still remember the 1978 "Treasures of Tutankhamen" exhibit at LACMA. Only 55 pieces, but they were the cream of the collection (my favorite was the statue of Isis with the outstreched hands). No plexiglas covers at that show. To this day it is my co-all time favorite museum show (the "Primitivism" show at New York MoMA was the othe).

The exhibit's next stop after LACMA is the Ft Lauderdale Museum of Art, which I live about eight blocks from. I was planing to go, but may reconsider if everything is going to be "under cover" so to speak.

Dianne47

A lot of people nowadays don't want to go to Egypt, but if you really want to see the objects from "King Tut's Tomb," here's what you do.

First and foremost, read at least one of Howard Carter's books in detail. There are four books by Carter available at amazon.com . Carter explains every item found, its significance, etc. It's a fascinating view of the incredible find and prepares you properly to see one of the great treasures of human history.

Go to the museum in Cairo to see the Tutankhamen artifacts. When I went nothing was labeled, so if you hadn't read in detail ahead of time you would have no idea of what you were seeing. Walk slowly through the exhibits, again when I was there it was practically empty. Savor the items, remembering the significance of each from recalling Carter's commentary.

I had been thinking of seeing the current exhibit in L.A., but your comments lead me to savor my Cairo memories instead.

BellaG

Went to the KING TUT EXHIBIT a few weeks ago. After reading the thread here, I wasn't keen to going, but the city offered the company I work for free access before the general public gets in. I surprisingly had a good time. However, perhaps it was because of the lack of crowd, so I was able to really take my time to enjoy every piece I was seeing.

It was neat seeing the pieces of furnitures (how innovative they were designed and built) and jewelry, shoes and clothing (how creative and in-fashion they are nowadays). At least for me, I enjoyed seeing the pieces up-close, knowing they were 100 years BC. "I'm looking at sand & wood that's 100 years Before Christ -- wow!" LOL!

I also liked the presentation on the very last room, but more from a creative point of view of how it was presented. As far as the content of the exhibit, I wish they had more.

Overall, a nice exhibit. Will I return to bring a family/friend to see it again? No. Will I go out of my way to encourage others to see it? Only if they're into all that Egyptian history and don't have plans (or simply unable) to travel to Egypt.

bigguyinpasadena

Might I suggest,as an adjunct to or substitution for the Tut exhibit,The splendid display of Egyptgian treasures currently on display at teh Bowers Museum in Santa Ana California.
The items are on loan from the British Museum.And ,while it does not have the scope of the Tut exhibition,it is a very personal and informative show-with no crowds!
The Bowers has very limited hours.
http://www.bowers.org/

rfrost

I went to the exhibit on Saturday. I had a 3 pm ticket. It was 4 pm before I was able to enter the first room. Spent most of the 70 minutes prior in a HUGE snaking line in a tent which, though it had ceiling fans, was way too hot. I won't compare the exhibition to what's on view in Egypt, as that's not a fair comparison. But I WILL compare it to Tut I, which I saw here in New York at the Met. While I think I found it harder at the Met to get near the pieces, it was, I believe both a more comprehensive and far more tasteful exhibition than this one. I'd preordered (and paid for) the audio before I saw the post above, which is probably overly kind. I really like Omar Sharif, but this was not only NOT insightful, but way overly dramatic and commercial.

Craig6z

I went last Friday, with a 11:00am entry. Was in line about 15 minutes, and actually got in about ten minutes early. About ten of us went on "company business" .

Pretty disappointed. Signage was poor, and many people with headsets were not aware of their surroundings. The would literally crowd to about 8 inches from the display, and just stand there motionless until the recording on the specific exhibit ended. It's interesting that upon entering ,the security people said that you could not get closer then 24 inches. No one enforced this. Some of the headset people also were talking to their companions quite loudly.

Those people without headsets, seemed to behave more courteously.

The group of us had a better time going to RJ's for lunch, afterwards.

lance6

Is at Costco, cheaper than what they sell at the museum.

bigguyinpasadena

I went with my nephew on a monday around noon.It was ok,had VIP tickets so no waiting.
The crowd inside were not the normal museum crowd.LOTS of young families with their lil'darlings in strollers which of course they park right in front of the items on display.One little brats dad threatned me when I asked her to move aside so other people could read the description plaque.Great candidate for a vasectomy.
Glad my tix were free-would have been pissed if I had to pay for them.

blitzkriegs

If you live in the LA area, why anyone intentionally going during the SUMMER weekday or weekend is beyond me. THe only valid reason is VIP tix or corporate dime.

No different than MM, Disney, Universal, Knott's, etc...avoid during the summer and wait until after labor day.

dasalomon

I saw the exhibit right after it opened and thought they did a fantastic job with it. The layout was really well thought out, the narrative commentary read by Omar Sherif was informative and entertaining, and the objects themselves incredible.

It was definitely not cheap but then again, this is not the type of exhibit that you get the chance to see often. I also thought they did a good job limiting the flow of people through the room. It was crowded but not overly so.

- Alexandra