By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN WEST — The return of the King Tut exhibition may have most of New York celebrating, but an Egyptian official is up in arms.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, the secretary general for Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities told a press conference Wednesday that hosting the Tutankhamun's tomb at the Discover Time Square Exposition cheapened the exhibition.
“This priceless artifact should be at the Met, not at this hall,” Hawass said.
In an embarassing preview for the exhibition, Hawass called Arts and Exhibitions International President John Norman to the stage and demanded he “answer the question. Why is King Tut not at the Met?”
Norman responded by saying then when plans to bring Tut back to New York began over five years ago, he met with Philippe de Montebello, then director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Discussions broke down after about eight months, he said.
“With all the economics that are involved, payments for the exhibition and guarantees to the Supreme Council,” Norman said, “We were unable to satisfy their economic goals and our economic goals.”
But it was a long way from the spectacular greeting that the first King Tut exhibition garnered in New York. More than 30 years ago, he attracted over 1.8 million visitors.
“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” features more than 130 artifacts, many of which are on their first run in New York.
The exhibit includes the world debut of a new replica of King Tut’s mummy, created using CT scans of Tut’s mummy transformed into 3D form. The original mummy has never left Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
A portion of the exhibit’s proceeds will return to Egypt in support of the ongoing study and preservation of antiquities, and the construction of the Grand Museum of Egypt in Cairo.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of the story quoted Dr. Zahi Hawass as saying "hole" instead of "hall."
