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The organizers of an exhibition in Paris of objects from the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun are expecting more than a million visitors. The show opens Saturday and is the last time the objects will travel outside Egypt before visiting a new museum near the Giza pyramids.
The sale of tickets for the exhibition, titled "Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh", reached 130,000 last week when conservatives began to install the items. The organizers say they expect 1.2 million visitors in the next six months.
The objects are part of a traveling exhibition in ten cities around the world to mark the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. Curator Tarek El Awady told RFI that he was also "sending the message to All over the world, Egypt is almost ready to open the new home of King Tutankhamun, the Great Egyptian Museum. "
The collection is being transferred from the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square in Cairo to the new museum near the Ginza Pyramids, which is expected to open next year.
"The 5,300 objects of Tutankhamun will be exhibited for the first time since the discovery of the treasure," said El Awady. "The king will be well, well protected, and his treasures will be in an absolutely secure environment."
The exhibition presents 150 objects, 60 of which have never left Egypt. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said it was the largest number of objects of Tutankhamen ever to have left Cairo, and that this may never happen again.
The Louvre in Paris lent to the show one of its flagship pieces of Tutankhamun, a statue of Amon, the king of the gods, protecting the pharaoh.
El Awady says the objects were chosen to tell the story of King Tut's journey into the afterlife.
"The story we want people to experience is to travel with Tutankhamen to the afterlife and to make that dangerous journey with him in the underworld, until the king be resurrected and live forever, "he said.
King Tut breaks records in Paris
Paris is the second leg of a tour of objects after Los Angeles. The last time King Tut's artifacts were exposed in Paris in 1967, 1.2 million people came to see them, setting a record for attendance. The exhibition at the Petit Palais called "the show of the century".
The new exhibition will not show the mask of Tutankhamun's golden death, made up of more than 10 kilograms of gold, as Egypt forbids him to leave the country.
Among the exhibits is an alabaster vase that El Awady calls the wish cup, which prefigures the popularity of King Tutankhamun.
"On the edge of this alabaster vase is written a magic text saying: May you live thousands of years, may your eyes see wonderful things. And I think the wish of this cup has come true. King Tut has been living for thousands of years and sees wonders around the world. "
The exhibition will open in London in November, before moving to Sydney. The other six cities on the tour have not been unveiled. The proceeds will be used to pay for the new Giza Museum.
& # 39; Tutankhamun, Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh & # 39; opens its doors at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris from March 23 to September 15, 2019.
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