The 1972 Tutankhamun Exhibition

As part of a worldwide tour, the treasures of Tutankhamun came to London in 1972, to coincide with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun which had taken place fifty years earlier and caused unrivalled excitement. Over 1.6 million people visited the Exhibition during its 6 month stay, casting the Tutankhamun spell over the population of Britain and the world.

Memories are vivid of people queuing around the British Museum to pay their 50p entrance charge, some of them waiting over 8 hours to get in. Inside the museum, the specially designed exhibition was crowded and stuffy at times, a constant movement of people making it possible to take only brief glimpses of some objects. A slight claustrophobia only added to the atmospheric display. For once, heads of the king, and postcards of his jewellery, outnumbered Union Jack t-shirts and models of London double-deckers on the stalls outside.

The Exhibition was the most popular exhibition in the history of the museum and still holds the record for the most visitors to any exhibition in London.