The boy king comes to the Louisiana Art & Science Museum to celebrate a fellow Ancient Egyptian

If the idea of mummies doesn’t grab their attention, mention of the boy king does.

Tutankhamun was only 9 years old when he came to power as Pharaoh of Egypt in 1332 B.C., which is well within the age range of most elementary school groups touring the exhibit dedicated to him at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum.

The show, “Discoveries on the Nile: Exploring King Tut’s Tomb and the Amin Egyptian Collection,” runs through Sept. 1, 2025, filling the museum’s main galleries in celebration of another ancient Egyptian who wasn’t a king.

“But our mummy really didn’t live in the time of King Tut,” said Beth Welch, assistant curator and museum preparator. “He lived in Egypt during the Ptolemaic period between 323 B.C. to 30 B.C.”

She refers to the mummy in the museum’s Ancient Egypt Gallery, which is designed to replicate a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. A darkened corridor ends in the burial chamber, where the museum’s mummy is on display.

He wasn’t always there. His first Baton Rouge home was on the second floor of the museum’s first location in Louisiana’s Old Governor’s Mansion. Either way, the mummy has been a part of the LASM for 60 years, so the museum brought in King Tut to commemorate this anniversary.

The boy king

Well, make that the spirit of King Tut, because the artifacts in this show actually are certified reproductions belonging to art collector Giovanni Amin. On a rainy day in November, at least three large elementary school groups walked through the exhibit, jaws dropping when they learned that Tut wasn’t much older — or younger — than them.

A 9-year-old boy in today’s world would be in the third or fourth grade. 

In his world, Tut ruled. But his reign was brief.

The young pharaoh had health issues. He died at 19 and was buried in the style of all other royals — in a multichambered tomb filled with valuable artifacts.

Since Tut was only a teenager when he died, it changes the entire narrative for any group of kids walking through the exhibit, connecting them to the main character in a way that nothing else could.

Tut is equally fascinating for adults, who will find that the reproductions in this show are the next best thing to the real deal.

After all, the real Tut’s last stop in Louisiana was in 1978, when the New Orleans Museum of Art hosted “The Treasures of Tutankhamun,” featuring the authentic artifacts archaeologist-Egyptologist Howard Carter pulled from Tut’s tomb in 1922.

Steve Martin chimes in

The traveling show was so popular that Steve Martin wrote a song parodying the commercialization of the tour and performed it in Ancient Egyptian garb on “Saturday Night Live.” The song, titled “King Tut,” ascended Billboard’s music charts, resulting in even longer lines for the exhibit.

Homage is paid to Martin’s contribution to Tut in this show through a photograph of his “SNL” performance.

The spotlight at LASM falls on the Ancients through some 200 pieces, beginning with the main attraction — Tut’s golden mask overlooking his three coffins.

Harry Burton’s photos of Carter’s excavation of Tut’s tomb displayed on the second floor document the Egyptologist’s first encounter with the real artifacts represented in this exhibit. The discovery was significant in that it was — and continues to be — the best preserved pharaonic tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings.

“Harry Burton was a photographer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Collections manager Brianna Oliver said. “He set up a darkroom in an empty tomb near King Tut’s and developed his photos on site.”

An archaeological adventure

Meanwhile, visitors can imagine themselves as archaeological explorers in this show, walking into a burial tomb of golden statuettes and stone cartouches telling the stories of pharaohs, queens and Egyptian gods and goddesses helmed by Tut’s gilded throne.

The museum has added a little fun along the way with an “Egyptomania” section, featuring pop culture references to the world’s fascination with everything Ancient Egypt.

Here, visitors will find movie posters for the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor epic, “Cleopatra,” and the 1999 adventure, “The Mummy.” Also included is a 45 RPM record for The Bangles’ 1986 hit, “Walk Like an Egyptian,” and, of course, the photo of Martin’s “SNL” performance of “King Tut.”

Then comes the second floor gallery’s exploration of deities and other Egyptian royalty, but it’s in the Soupçon Gallery around the corner where the Amin collection’s 22 authentic funerary masks can be found.

These masks are made of wood and canvas, some highlighted by gilded paint. They don’t match the craftsmanship of Tut’s golden mask, but they’re important all the same.

“In Ancient Egypt, a likeness was created of the deceased as a way for their spirits to recognized their bodies,” Oliver said. “If they didn’t have that, their spirits would wander aimlessly.”

In this space, the exhibit takes on a different narrative. These were real masks for real people, as real as the person who has been lying in repose for six decades in the LASM.

The museum’s mummy

“Discoveries on the Nile” ends at the museum’s Ancient Egypt Gallery, which provides extensive information not only on the Ptolemaic period but the mummy, himself, who, at first, was thought to be a woman.

Ask any adult who was a school kid who visited the mummy way back when, and they’ll confirm the museum’s story. But an examination by LSU’s Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services, or FACES, Laboratory debunked that theory.

Then came a computed tomography scan from St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gonzales, which confirmed the FACES Lab’s findings. The scan followed the directives of Jonathan Elias of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, which also revealed that the museum mummy’s organs are still intact, not placed in canopic jars as was the tradition in Ancient Egyptian burials.

“Apparently he had died, and by the time they were able to get him, his organs had dried naturally,” Oliver said. “He was between 25 and 30 when he died.” 

The mummy’s curly hair is preserved, forming a halo of red ringlets around his forehead. If the FACES Lab’s drawing of his face is correct, he was boyishly cute.

The exhibit also includes a sculptural rendering of the mummy’s face, which is somewhat different from the drawing. Still, both portraits lack one thing: His name.

What was it? In 60 years, that question has never been answered.

And it probably never will.

‘Discoveries on the Nile: Exploring King Tut’s Tomb and the Amin Egyptian Collection’ runs through Sept. 1, 2025, at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, 100 S. River Road.

The show features some 200 artifacts and high-quality reproductions displayed in The Republic Finance Gallery and throughout the museum, along with 22 authentic ancient Egyptian funerary masks on display in the Soupçon Gallery.

Hours are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $15 for adults and $12 for ages 3-12 and 65 and older.

For more information, call (225) 344-5272 or visit lasm.org.