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Around 1323 BC, Tutankhamun – the 13th pharaoh of ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty – suddenly died in his late teens. Having ascended the throne as a child, he had reigned for less than a decade, and might have been consigned to a footnote in history were it not for the rediscovery of his sumptuously furnished tomb more than 3,000 years later. The thousands of artefacts that Howard Carter and his team uncovered in 1922 immediately captured the public imagination, and revolutionised our understanding of the world that the boy-king had known. Now modern visitors can follow in pharaonic footsteps in an immersive experience, recently opened for a 14-week run in London, that uses cutting-edge technology to bring the Nile Valley, Tutankhamun’s burial, and even the ancient Egyptian underworld vividly to life.
Tutankhamun: the immersive exhibition begins by putting the eponymous ruler’s life and times within their historical context, with information boards offering a brief introduction to the ancient Egyptian civilisation and outlining key events that helped to illuminate it once more, including the scientific expedition that accompanied Napoleon’s army in 1798, and Champollion’s decipherment of hieroglyphic writing in 1822. From there, visitors enter the ‘treasure room’, a gallery containing a number of replicas of artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb, as well as full-sized reconstructions of his coffin and his famous death mask, shown alongside authentic artefacts relating to other pharaohs. Howard Carter himself also looms large in the displays: the next space features facsimile paintings and diary entries shedding light on his notoriously prickly personality, his artistic talent, and his watershed work in the Valley of the Kings.
Up to this point, the rooms are all calm, quiet spaces with subdued lighting – but, after encountering Howard Carter, visitors are shown into a huge hall where vibrant 8m-high projections move across the walls in a 360°, 30-minute show. Through these images you journey through the Nile Valley and across desert vistas, seeing monuments and local wildlife; colourful wall paintings come alive, walking and talking as they explain ancient Egyptian religious beliefs; and the space is flooded with news coverage of the tomb’s discovery, and the exuberant ‘Tut-mania’ that followed.
The spectacle is truly impressive, but there are even more transportive sights to come, including a seated virtual-reality experience where you travel from Tutankhamun’s tomb into the afterlife, and a hologram room explaining the process of mummification (sensitive readers need not worry – it isn’t gory). The exhibition culminates in a fully immersive ‘metaverse’ where you can wander freely, wearing VR goggles, to explore Howard Carter’s base camp in the Valley of the Kings and the tomb that made his name – and this recreated world is interactive, meaning that you can move objects or turn the pages of books with a wave of your hand. Arthur C Clarke once wrote that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’; while exploring this spell-binding exhibition, it is hard to disagree.
Further information: Tutankhamun: the immersive exhibition runs at Immerse LDN at Excel, Royal Victoria Dock, London, until 29 June 2025. General admission (16+) costs £28. Admission is £26.50 for seniors, students, and NHS staff; and £21.50 for 4-15 year olds; under-4s are free. For more details about visiting, see www.tutankhamunexperience.com/london.
