"At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold - everywhere the glint of gold...I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, "Can you see anything?" it was all I could do to get out the words, "Yes, wonderful things." Howard Carter in his book "The Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen".

Carter did not realise the full extent his discovery until later that month, when the tomb was fully opened in the presence of Lord Carnarvon; the treasures that he discovered within captured the imagination of the public and created a worldwide sensation. A wave of Egypt-mania swept across the world, and interest in the finds together with rumours of a curse on those who had entered the tomb soon ensured that Tutankhamen became the most famous of all Egyptian kings in the popular imagination. In 1972, to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery, an exhibition showcasing many of the items discovered in Tutankhamen's tomb was shown in London and attracted 1.7million visitors, setting a new standard for blockbuster touring museum shows. A further exhibition was later negotiated to travel around US museums between 1976 and 1979. However, due to some minor damage that occurred to one of the objects when it was returned after this second tour, the Egyptian government passed a law prohibiting the future loan of the objects. It wasn't until 2004 that the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities relented and began to negotiate with National Geographic the possibility of creating another international touring exhibition ("Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs"), with the proceeds going towards the creation of the Great Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The new exhibition was to be bigger and better than the earlier ones, and was to travel around the US (Chicago, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles and Atlanta) and to visit London (between November 2007 and the end of August 2008).

While you queue for admission, you are offered an audio tour narrated by Omar Sharif - but only if you are prepared to pay another £4 (£2.50 for children) each. I baulked at paying out again after already spending a lot of money on the tickets, but Other Half decided to hire one each for us. They were the same design as those often used by English Heritage, resembling a mobile phone handset with headphones attached that the visitor can use as and when they please. When presented with a numbered symbol on the tour, you key in the displayed number to the handset and press play to hear the commentary; there were also stop, pause and volume controls. (I should note that transcripts of the tour were available for visitors with hearing impairments and there were also versions available in other languages - I noticed ones in Japanese certainly, but obviously not narrated by Omar Sharif!). Suitably kitted out, you then take an escalator up the first floor to pass through security (inevitably I was chosen for the random bag search - I must just look dodgy) before heading up a second escalator to an anteroom when you join yet another queue. This is just another means of staggering visitor flow into the exhibition. Visitors are admitted in small groups into the first room of the exhibition with a wait of several minutes between each group. When we arrived it wasn't too busy (well, it was 10am on a Sunday) so we had to wait just a couple of minutes here; anyone arriving at busier periods might find themselves waiting longer and entering the exhibition at a later time than that stated on their ticket.

You start your visit in a well stage-managed introductory theatre; a short film (maybe two minutes long and also narrated by Omar Sharif) introduces the exhibition in an otherwise darkened room. As the film ends, lights at the far end of the room go up to highlight a stone statue, the first object of the exhibition. We obediently trot off towards it and listen to the first excerpt on our audio players, which draws our attention to the finer points of the workmanship - in much the same way as the text panel does, to be honest. As we leave the room, behind us we can hear the next group being ushered into the introductory gallery; this way, the galleries should not get too crowded, which is good for both the security of the objects and for the visitor who wants to able to see them clearly (especially those objects with audio recordings associated with them, as they attract large clusters of visitors).

Aside from the objects, the exhibition was also of interest to me to see what a well-funded museum display could be like. The answer it seems is that it includes a beefy security guard in each room, top-notch lighting to draw out the finer points of objects (trust me, both difficult and expensive to do well without damaging the object with heat or UV) and appropriate set props and music to help develop an atmosphere - this was not just your usual museum white space. Objects were never just expected to speak for themselves, either. The text was clearly written and put the objects in context, but was also understandable for a mass audience. As far as possible, objects were placed in glass case "islands" to allow visitors to move all around them and appreciate them from different angles. Modern technology (beyond the reach of most museum budgets) was used to good effect. The best example of this was with the canopic coffinette mentioned previously: fine details of the interior and exterior had been filmed close-up and were displayed on large HD TVs in the gallery so that you could see the object in fine detail. The audio tour, on the other hand, was a bit of a letdown for me. I didn't feel that it offered me much more than was available on the text panels, and caused clustering of visitors around some cases that made it harder to see objects without being jostled. I would not have been bothered had it been included in the price, but it was simply not worth the extra money, and I wouldn't recommend buying one to visitors.

- Final Thoughts and Conclusions
As you leave the exhibition, you are inevitably channelled through the exhibition shop, and a surprisingly large and well-stocked one at that - especially in the book department. Most of the goods are of the good quality variety aimed at (well off) adult visitors, although there are some more affordable items (such as a souvenir mug for £6) and a few bits and pieces that will appeal to children (such as pencil tins and key rings). It was worth having a browse around, though we were limited by what we could get home on the train (so no big hardback books for us). In terms of visitor facilities, there were plenty of staff and seating available throughout my time in the exhibition, but I don't recall seeing any toilets anywhere. There are public toilets in the O2 close by, but that may be worth remembering if you are going to spend anything between 1 and 2 hours in the exhibition, and you are not allowed re-admittance once you have left.

The "Mummies 3D" film costs £4 per person if bought individually.