Blockbuster Tutankhamun show gets extended run in France

AFP . Paris

In this file photograph taken on 21 March 2019, a sculpture depicting Tutankhamun is displayed during the exhibition `Tutankhamun, Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh` at La Villette in Paris.

A blockbuster Tutankhamun show in Paris has been extended for a week with more than 800,000 people already buying tickets for the exhibition.

More than 1.2 million are expected to flock to "Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh", which has been described as as a "once in a generation" show about the young Egyptian monarch.

Organisers said opening hours have also been extended from 9:00 am to 9:00pm at the giant la Villette venue in the north of the French capital.

The galleries will remain open until 2:00am on 15 June for "The Night of Tutankhamun", which will feature traditional musicians and guest speakers.

In two and a half months, the flagship exhibition of the year in Paris, `Tutankhamun, the Treasury of the Pharaoh` which has gathered more than 150 original objects from the tomb of the young pharaoh in the modern setting of the Great Hall of the Vilette, has already had 800,000 visitors, the organisers announced on 4 June 2019. Photo: AFP

The show, which will transfer to the Saatchi Gallery in London in November, will now run in Paris until 22 September.

The Egyptian ministry for antiquities -- which is taking a share of the proceeds of the show -- said this is the largest number of Tutankhamun artifacts ever to have left Cairo.