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 1960s Tutankhamun Treasures Tour
The Department of Antiquities of the United Arab Republic allowed artifacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb to leave the country for the first time in the early 1960s—nearly forty years after the initial discovery by archaeologist Howard Carter.
Sponsored by the American Association of Museums and circulated by the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. exhibition was christened Tutankhamun Treasures and quickly became the most sought-after show of its era.
The Scope of the Tour
Between 1961-63, the exhibition traveled to fifteen different U.S. museums for brief, one-month stays at each venue. This modest exhibition featured 34 artifacts in total, some from Tutankhamun’s tomb and some from the burials of other Egyptian nobles.
In addition, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline allowed an Old Kingdom stone statue from their personal collection—a gift to them from the United Arab Republic—to travel with the exhibition.
 The Focus of the Tour
Designed primarily for art museums, the show focused on the artifacts’ value as magnificent works of art and as national treasures of Egypt. This interpretation reveals the tour’s main goal: to stimulate international interest in saving ancient Egyptian monuments that were threatened by flooding due to construction of the new Aswan Dam along the River Nile.
In addition, the tour may also have been initiated as a public-relation’s effort to ease Cold War tensions in the Near East during the era. Whatever the reason for the exhibition’s creation, the tour successfully raised awareness towards conservation efforts of Egyptian antiquities and made a dramatic impact on American culture.
Continue to the cultural photo gallery and the 1962 Chicago Tour. >>
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