Packing case after packing case had arrived from Cairo filled with everything that a young king might need in life and death, with an entourage that would impress the most demanding of monarchs. Only the subject himself was absent, his body staying in Egypt, the land of his birth, where it has always remained. 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. Thirty years later, there have been some significant changes at the British Museum.
Museums now face a harsher economic reality.
Their visitors are ever more demanding and knowledgeable. Presentation and marketing are just as important as conservation. The quality of the exhibits, however, is still critical to the success of any permanent exhibition. There is some irony in the fact that one of the most popular exhibits on the Egyptian funerary galleries is one of Tutankhamun s humbler forebears. He is pointed out to first time visitors who will recall him fondly in years to come.