TICKETS ON SALE THIS MONDAY, APRIL 6, FOR
 
TUTANKHAMUN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS

AT THE DE YOUNG MUSEUM

 

SAN FRANCISCO (April 1, 2009) — Tickets to this summer’s highly anticipated exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, go on sale to the general public online on Monday, April 6, 2009 (please note that the de Young is closed on this day). Tickets go on sale at the museum on Tuesday, April 7. The exhibition opens on June 27, 2009 at the de Young Museum and runs through March 28, 2010. The de Young is the only venue for this exhibition north of Los Angeles and west of Dallas.
 
Advance purchases are recommended to secure tickets for desired date and time.  On weekdays (Monday-Thursday), ticket prices are $27.50 for adults, $25.50 for seniors 65+, and $16.50 for youth ages 6-17. On weekends (Friday-Sunday), ticket prices are $32.50 for adults, $30.50 for seniors and $16.50 for youth.  Children ages 5 and under are free at all times.
 
A special Family Package is available that includes admission for two adults and two youth plus four audio tours.  This package is $99 on weekdays and $109 on weekends, a savings of $17 over tickets purchased separately.
 
Tickets can be purchased online through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com); by calling 877.TUT.TKTS (877.888.8587); or in person at the de Young’s admission desk as of April 7. For groups of ten or more please call the group sales office at 415.750.3620.
 
The exhibition is organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.  Proceeds generated from the tour are being used to help preserve Egypt’s treasures, including the construction of a new museum in Cairo where antiquities will be housed.
 
The exhibition will be open to the public daily from 9am-9pm from June 27 through September 30, 2009. The exhibition will resume with new hours from October 1, 2009 through March 28, 2010.  These hours are 9am-6:30pm (Tuesday-Sunday) and 9am-8:45pm on Fridays.  Mondays will be reserved for school group visits.
 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs provides insight into the life of Tutankhamun and other royals of the 18th Dynasty (1555-1305 BC).  All of the treasures in the exhibition are more than 3,000 years old.
 
Tutankhamun was one of the last kings of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty and ruled during a crucial, turmoil-filled period of Egyptian history.  The boy king died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 18 or 19, in the ninth year of his reign (1323 BC).  Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings was filled with magnificent treasures meant to ensure his divine immortality. Many objects belonging to the young king, including exquisite personal items used in his daily life, were placed in the tomb.
 
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs offers glimpses of that critical period in Egyptian history. On display will be 50 of Tutankhamun’s burial objects, including one of the gold and precious stone inlaid canopic coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs.  Also included are many of the day-to-day objects enjoyed by the young king including a finely crafted child’s chair and an inlaid game board, one of four in the tomb.
 
The de Young presentation is part of a U.S. encore tour.  New to the encore tour are two nested coffinettes that contained the remains of two fetuses that are now undergoing DNA testing to reveal their relationship to King Tut. Also new to the exhibition from Tutankhamun’s tomb is a beautiful bracelet featuring a central image of a scarab representing the sun god. An elaborate pectoral, a masterpiece of jewelry making, contains a rare, yellow-green glass stone carved in the shape of a scarab beetle that some scientists believe to be a fragment of an ancient meteorite.
 
More than 80 additional objects from tombs of 18th Dynasty royals, as well the possessions of elite individuals with close connections to the royal family also will be exhibited.  These stone, faience and wooden pieces from burial sites before Tut’s reign will give visitors a sense of what the burials of both royalty and the elite may have been like and what the Egyptians of that time considered essential for the afterlife.
 
Northern Trust is the proud cultural partner of the exhibition, and American Airlines is the official airline. The San Francisco presentation is sponsored by Mrs. Thomas B. Crowley, Sr.
 
 
EXHIBITION IMAGE SITE
 
EXHIBITION WEB SITE
 
ABOUT THE DE YOUNG
The de Young, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and located in Golden Gate Park, showcases American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries, international textile arts and costumes, and art from the Americas, the Pacific, and Africa.
 
Address:                      Golden Gate Park
                                    50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
                                    San Francisco, CA 94118

Information:                 www.deyoungmuseum.org
                                    415.750.3600

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