King Tut Virtual Exhibit

The King Tut exhibit is currently on a tour of the United States and Canada, but you can get a taste of it without leaving your home by visiting King Tut Virtual: SPECIAL PREVIEW in Second Life. It’s part of an experiment by Rezzable to explore the possibilities of using virtual world space. The "Preview" in the title suggests that there is more to come. What is there already is impressive.

When you first teleport there, you are on a landing pad over a globe showing Egypt and neighboring countrues on both sides of the Mediterranean. From there, you can teleport to Tutankhamun’s tomb, complete with an archeological dig outside, with tents, crates, and other items that might be found in a dig like this. An opening into the hillside leads down into the tomb, where you can see tomb paintings like those in the picture on the left. There are also a number of reproductions of ancient items, such as a chariot.

Besides the tomb, there are five other parts of the sim to which you can teleport. One is the Gallery, a museum-like display that cleverly implements the display of artifacts such as daggers, trumpets, and masks displayed in round display "cases". When you click on them, they enlarge outside the display case so you can examine them in detail. You see the trumpets and dagger in the third picture.

Another teleport destination is Amarna, a partial reproduction of an ancient Egyptian town. It’s moderately interesting. I hope Rezzable plans more for this. It would be interesting to see how some Egyptians actually lived. Just beyond Amarna, you’l find the Digital Alchemy Boutique, a shopping area where you can buy Egyptian-themed items such as clothing, jewelry, and skins.

 

The most impressive part is the least traditional as a "museum" display. In fact, it’s nothing like a museum display. When you teleport there, you are in space, stars all around, with a descending spiral of stars that you quickly realize is a walkway. Among the artififacts you can see floating among the stars is the Tutankhamun mask in the picture on the left above.

Rezzable’s done a good job so far. I hope they continue to expand this display. If you’re a Second Life member, you can visit the King Tut Preview exhibit in the King’s Rezzable sim by clicking slurl.com/secondlife/Kings%20Rezzable/199/157/23.