Professor Patricia Clavin explores the global impact of King Tut

Former Co-director of the Centre, Professor Patricia Clavin, recently wrote for the BBC about the 1920s cult of Egyptomania. Read her full article here: King Tutankhamen: How a tomb cast a spell on the world. 

She writes: "When King Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in November 1922, the world fell under his spell. For today’s archaeologists, the explanation for the cult of King Tut lies in the exceptional richness of the discovery, especially as many of the tombs were robbed of their mortuary goods; and in the mystique surrounding the premature deaths of the boy king and Lord Carnarvon, who funded the dig. As the largest collection of Tutankhamun’s treasures to travel outside of Egypt goes on display at the Saatchi Gallery in London (after drawing record-breaking numbers in LA and Paris), the find clearly still has a global appeal in the 21st Century." 

Be sure to also check out Prof Clavin's BBC Radio 4 programme on the same topic: The Cult of King Tut.