TheTutankhamun Immersive Exhibition

                              

A special Glasgow experience was attending Tutankhamun, The Immersive Exhibition  at the Scottish Event Campus.  

The Egyptian civilisation in North Africa was located in much the same geographic area as modern Egypt. Generally speaking, in the 4th millenium BC, in the Predynastic Period, there was evidence of cultures in different parts of the Nile Valley. In 3,000 BC , after conflict amongst these groups, they were united under one leader, Narmer, who is credited with being the first King of Dynasty O.

It was during the Old Kingdom around 2,250 BC that the Giza pyramids were constructed. The Middle Kingdom, however, around 2,000 BC is one of the most brilliant times of the Pharaonic culture characterised by its advanced art and literature.  

Below is the putative family tree with Tutankhamun being the son of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, his great royal wife - though there are other maternal possibilities! 

Tut's tomb was discovered in 1922  in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. Comprising four chambers in all, they were full of spectacular treasures: gold-covered chariots, ornate alabaster vessels, inlaid furniture, jewellery and other personal belongings.  

We were shown the tomb contents in all their glory.There was even a demo of how the mummification was carried out but, thankfully it was not shown in detail ! :0  

 This really was a unique experience with the worlds of hi-tech and history merging impressively. Images projected  on the walls of the 'black box'  led us through the Pharaonic times, making our protagonist almost come to life.  At some points we had individual virtual reality helmets which heightened the experience greatly.  There were even holographic images of little silver geckos scuttling around the floor and appearing to climb on the legs and the backs of the audience !!   Technology and scientific research could also tell us that Tutankhamun was only 19 at the time of his death, that he had malaria, a small cleft palate and  that he had a leg fracture which could have contributed to his death.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

The two items in this glorious trove that really  were awesome were  the famous solid-gold mask which was laid on his mummy and the gold throne.  The throne was embossd in gold sheet, inlaid with thick vitreous paste and semi-precious stones. The art work depicts his shoulders being annointed by his royal wife, Ankhsenamur.

                                     

The items on display in the exhibition were a mix of originals and replicas. Z and I were fortunate to have been to the Archaeological Museum in Cairo some years ago and so have seen the original pieces in situ. But what we await eagerly is to visit the new Grand Egyptian Museum  in Giza, due to open in November 2025. This new museum was necessitated since the  previous one was slowly sinking into the sand with the weight of its massive artefacts. 

At the estimated construction cost of a billion dollars it sounds to be very grand indeed!     

    

A Trip on the North Highland Line.

 Travelling on the North Highland Line has always been an experience I wanted, so off we set from  Queen Street Station  in Glasgow. Cameras almost immediately started clicking as we admired stunning scenes while  we sped along the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond- famed both in repute and song.  

Our destination was Mallaig - what I expected to be a small fishing village. I had also expected to see more coastline views as we travelled north but, alas, we were more inland that seaside. I had noted that hotel and B&B prices there were steep so decided we would opt for a day trip of around 5.5 hours each way. I did not regret ths though our posteriors were a wee bit numb by the end of the day! :o 

 

The village itself was pretty but too, too touristy - there were lots of visitors ambling round, with not too much to do apart from mooch around in the tourist-tat traps. I enthused on seeing bags of tablet for sale - a tooth-dissolving traditional sugary sweet that is sometimes nice as a wee treat. But when I saw the wee bag of nine or ten small  pieces had a  price-tag of 7.99 pounds, I resisted the temptation. We had to queue for a lunch table but our  helpings of large local scallops were generous and tasty. 

 

After lunch we strolled along the  beach, the fine weather affording us a good view of the nearby islands of the Inner Hebrides : Canna, Eigg, Muck and Rum. 

 

And where there are highlands and islands, there are great Callie MacBrayne  steamers too.

 

Soon it was time to take the return train and we got some good shots of impressive landmarks. Here is the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct we crossed, much to the delight of visitors standing below this 80 metre high construct, the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland. It is well know for its appearances in no fewer  than four of the Harry Potter films and is also a feature of the 2007 issue 10 pound note of the Bank of Scotland.

 

This next shot shows a pretty anchorage with the backdrop of Ben Nevis, at 1,335 metres, the highest mountain in Britain. In this area there were many climbers to be seen. Many of them were attempting the challenge of climbing some, if not all, of thes 282 Munros in Scotland - that is any mountain that is over 3,000 feet - i.e. 914.4 metres. No easy feat!

 

Now I leave you with a shot of the bleak expanse that is the Rannoch Moor. For me it epitomises a classis Highland scene: the glorious purple heather in the foreground, the ubiquitous bracken fern, and the peat moor. Our father used to cut peat from the local moorland, dry it out for our winter fuel. And if you really look closely you can see a young deer, startled by the train, running off to join the nearby herd.