Most of the exhibition's tickets sold until February 2020... visiting hours extended due to heavy demand
After Minister of Antiquities Dr. Khaled El-Enany officially opened the exhibition "Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh" in the British capital London, thousands of visitors lined up in front of the main entrance of the Saatchi Gallery, waiting for hours for their turn to enter the exhibition and enjoy viewing some of the treasures of the young king, which arrived in London as their third stop after visiting Los Angeles in the United States and the French capital Paris.
The company organizing the exhibition revealed in a statement today that 300,000 tickets have been sold so far, and that most tickets are sold until mid-February 2020.
The organizing company said in a statement today that, due to the crowds of visitors at the main entrance of the exhibition hall, the gallery's management, in cooperation with the company, has extended the exhibition's daily visiting hours, which will now start daily at 9:00 a.m. and end at 5:30 p.m. instead of 4:30 p.m., except on Thursdays and Saturdays, when visiting hours end at 8:30 p.m., while on Sundays they end at 7:30 p.m.
It is worth noting that El-Enany opened the exhibition on Friday evening, the day before yesterday, at a grand ceremony attended by about 1,000 invited guests from among public figures, businesspeople and stars of British society, including Ambassador Tarek Adel, Egypt's ambassador in London; archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass; and Fiona Carnarvon, the eighth Countess of Carnarvon, of the family of Lord Carnarvon, who funded the excavations of Howard Carter's mission that discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
They were joined by a host of public figures, wealthy individuals and stars of British society, including British MP Philip Hammond; Ahmed Hegazi, the top Egyptian national team footballer who plays professionally in England; the famous English businessman Francis; Robert Gavin Pool; the famous broadcaster and journalist Huw Edwards; television producer Sally Woodward; the well-known British musician Nick Rhodes; famous tennis player Heather Watson; and actress Penelope Wilton, as well as other accredited ambassadors, Egyptologists and representatives of numerous tourism and travel companies.
The British capital has hosted the young king's artifacts twice before: the first time in 1972, when the exhibition attracted about 1.7 million visitors, and the second in 2007.
The current exhibition includes 150 artifacts from the young king's collection, among them a number of gilded ushabti figurines, wooden boxes, canopic jars, the gilded wooden ka statue and alabaster vessels.
The British people and the British capital celebrated the arrival of King Tutankhamun's artifacts, as the main streets and squares and metro and train stations were adorned with images of the young king's face and some of his artifacts, while the walls of shops, buildings and phone booths were decorated with banners about the young king and his exhibition.
News of the golden king and his exhibition also dominated the front pages of British newspapers and magazines, most of which prepared illustrated features on the young king's exhibition, the story of the discovery of his tomb, the treasures found inside it and the studies carried out on his mummy to determine his lineage, the diseases he suffered during his life and the real reason behind his early death, as the British consider this exhibition the most important and largest cultural event in London in the coming days.
