The Fiction Factory

Tutankhamun

My first encounter with Egyptian history was at the British Museum in London in 1972. I was a young lad then, and my father had taken me on my first trip to London to see the loan exhibition from the Department of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. I was fascinated by all there was to see and it triggered a lifelong interest in history. It was also the first exhibition of its type that I had visited, and likely sparked my pastime of visiting museums and art galleries whenever I can. I went on to study history through school, and in fact ended up sitting my first degree in History at university. I wanted to be a history teacher in those days and did in fact take teacher training, but I bailed at the end of it, having decided it wasn’t for me. I became hooked on computers while taking a Masters in Applied Social Research and ended up with a career in IT and cyber security, resulting in my novel The Kill Chain. It’s funny how things work out. You would be surprised how many folk in IT have an arts background. I think it’s an advantage.

I still have the official book from the exhibition called Treasures of Tutankhamun, on my bookshelves. Readers of this blog will know I always like to buy the souvenir guide when possible, and I suspect this habit was forged back then. The highlight then was the gold mask. I can still recall standing in awe of it, having never seen anything quite so magnificent. Apparently 1.6 million people queued to see this.

I made a trip to the next exhibition which was again held in London in 2007, this time at the O2 Arena. There were less exhibits on show and was not to the same scale as the previous one. The gold death mask was not on display, by this time considered too fragile to be transported around the world. I still loved it, though I feel my expectations were a little too high based on the impact the previous exhibition had on me.

There was a final exhibition in London from November 2019 to May 2020 and I had plans to go, but the pandemic put paid to that with the exhibition closing in March 2020 as the country went into the first lockdown. This was to be the last time the artefacts would tour, before being permanently displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Egypt. I’m keen to organise a trip to see these again and will explore this further.

Last week, in August 2025, I went to see Tutankhamun The Immersive Exhibition at the SEC in Glasgow. Given my interest this was a must. I had been to see the Van Gogh Alive Exhibition in Edinburgh in 2022 (this was before I started this blog series). It was an immersive experience in the sense of being in a room with the images of the paintings displayed on the walls, with animations, making them come to life. The Tutankhamun exhibition took this concept to the next level. On entering there are introduction panels containing information to read, providing the background history and Treasure Rooms one and two containing a mixture of real and replica artefacts. The gold death mask was a replica for example as you would expect. Next is the Immersive Hall which runs a 30-minute presentation on a continuous loop. The 8-metre high video wall that occupies the four walls and floor is quite something to see. I spent the first twenty minutes on my own in there as I arrived at opening time and the exhibition was quiet.

Next is the VR (Virtual Reality) room providing an interpretation of the Egyptian afterlife. Very surreal and sitting in a chair with the headset and headphones and being able to spin 360-degrees, it was quite an experience. From there I visited the Hologram Room which displayed the mummification process which was quite fascinating.

The best is kept for last. The Metaverse Room allows you to don a headset and enter an augmented reality journey through the Valley of the Kings. I was able to enter Howard Carter’s base camp which was set up to facilitate the exploration of the area. This is the first time I’ve tried this out so was a little disorientated to start with, but quickly got into it and was able to allow myself to believe that what I was seeing was real. If I walked too near an actual wall within the exhibition centre, a red grid would flash up warning me to change direction. The highlight was reliving the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. I had seen the photographs of the treasures as they were discovered, so instantly recognised the scene. An old fashioned oil lamp appeared in my hand and using this I was able to illuminate the walls of the tomb and take in the paintings and hieroglyphics. As I wandered about I could see the treasures surrounding the tomb and by this point I was completely engrossed. All too soon the scene changed and I found myself back in a blue room mapped out with a white grid that covered all surfaces. Arrows appeared on the floor pointing the way to the exit and then I heard a voice of one of the assistants saying they would help me remove my headset. I was so buzzing about the experience, and could easily have stayed in the Metaverse for longer. That’s a sign of a great experience, wanting to go back in and do it all again.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at this exhibition and would thoroughly recommend going to see it. I purchased a magnet of the gold death mask (I have many fridge magnets for numerous places) along with a blue scarab beetle as souvenirs from the gift shop. On leaving the exhibition there is a cafe and it served me one of the best lattes I’ve had this year. It even came in a takeaway cup advertising the exhibition! From there I headed up to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum which readers will know is a favourite of mine. I took in the Dali, and the Van Gogh’s which are mandatory visits for me and then headed for lunch at a place called Strip Joint for a burger and chips. This is a pub that also sells new and classic vinyl records. Along with beer it’s a really popular place. The bill is delivered inside an old cassette tape case, with my bill arriving inside an album by Sonic Youth called Goo. Such an entertaining and memorable way to do things. I obviously took a photograph!

There have been many highlights this year so far, and certainly this exhibition is up there with the best of them. This is partly because of my interest in the subject, but also because of the connections it has to my past. I imagine we all would like to be remembered once we are gone. Tutankhamun went to incredible lengths to try and realise the belief in the afterlife. He achieved immortality; we’ll never know if its what he imagined it would be.