Hey, there! Log in / Register

Why, yes, there's a reason there's a 25-foot-tall statue of an ancient Egyptian in front of City Hall today

King Tut - SNL

Seems we're getting one of those traveling displays of stuff from King Tut's tomb, Boston Magazine explains.

Neighborhoods: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Ah, I thought we were renaming City Hall Plaza to Egyptian Square, since we're renaming places after ancient foreign kingdoms now.

up
Voting closed 0

..

up
Voting closed 0

Is a lot less ancient and far more revelant in these parts than Egypt.

up
Voting closed 0

As opposed to those old classic Native American places like "Boston", "Cambridge", or "Worcester", which have probably been called that forever and certainly weren't named after anything foreign.

up
Voting closed 0

Except for the former Gay Head, I haven't heard of anyone proposing we rename places back to their indigenous names.

Are you?

up
Voting closed 0

Mahty had declared himself Pharaoh of Boston.

up
Voting closed 0

i think he had a condo

up
Voting closed 0

Had a condo made a stone-ah.

up
Voting closed 0

At no time was that Steve Martin "King Tut" routine ever funny.

up
Voting closed 0

It was at all times hilarious.

up
Voting closed 0

Got it going through my head right now. His banjo/bluegrass version is also fabulous!

up
Voting closed 0

about the Tut Exhibit, my first thought was "Better make sure Batman's in town." My second thought was of Steve Martin's King Tut.

up
Voting closed 0

hot sax. You hush your mouth.

up
Voting closed 0

I still remember being over a neighbor's house and watching SNL that night. Beer-coming-out-of-the-nose funny.

up
Voting closed 0

So a few people enjoyed it. He was definitely more entertaining than say Rodney Dangerfield.....

up
Voting closed 0

I see wonderful things!

up
Voting closed 0

The Steve Martin routine was playing off that time's own King Tut hype, fueled by a massive traveling exhibition, "Treasures of Tutankhamen," one of the first blockbuster touring exhibitions, which visited seven US museums from 1976-79.

I could have sworn that exhibition came to the MFA. I even remember going to it as a kid. But I can find no evidence it came any closer than New York.

up
Voting closed 0

I saw the Tut exhibit at the MFA (?) and it had to be in the eighties. First thing I thought of when I saw this on the news this morning.

I think you're correct in thinking you saw it here.

up
Voting closed 0

Sometime, probably in the mid to late 90s, my mom brought me to a traveling Egyptian exhibit at the MFA. I too could have sworn it was Tutankhamen.

up
Voting closed 0

I remember the huge banners out front and possibly some other larger than life decor when I was remodeling the YMCA cafe in the late 90s..... and circling for a parking spot constantly.

I can't help but think it was a female Egyptian and that was the focus.

up
Voting closed 0

You may be thinking of the Ramses exhibit that came to the Museum of Science in the 80s. It also had a massive statue of Ramses in front of the museum.

up
Voting closed 0

Yes, I was definitely thinking of the Ramses Exhibit in 1988.

up
Voting closed 0

1988 the Museum of Science had Ramses II --- complete with mammoth Ramses II Sculpture [May 7, 1988 through August 30, 1988] -- and in 2012 the MOS hosted "Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science [May 27 – September 3 2012].

The MFA has had several major Egyptian Exhibitions including one "The Secrets of Tomb 10A Egypt 2000 BC" [October 18, 2009–June 27, 2010] -- based on the tomb of the Governor Djehutynakht --- and most of which can be seen on display permanently in a gallery devoted to it.

BUT Boston has not had a major Egyptian Exhibition devoted to King Tut

In 1963 a relatively small exhibition of 34 artifacts called Tutankhamun Treasures was hosted by the MFA for about a month [February 1–28, 1963]

In the 1970's and 80's a lot of TuT stuff -- the blockbuster Treasures of Tutankhamun -- including the world famous gold death mask -- traveled extensively worldwide and to seven sites in the US [77-79] -- but just not here. The closest it got to Boston was at the Metropolitan in NYC [December 15, 1978 – April 15, 1979] . I saw it at the Museum of Art in New Orleans [September 15, 1977 – January 15, 1978].

Now -- this summer we are getting a final chance to see a lot of Tut's Stuff before it disappears into a new permanent display in Cairo.

up
Voting closed 0

I can remember taking a few E-line trips to Lechemere and getting impressive views of Ramses in his temple as the trolley passed the MOS. In fact-checking my memories I found this article explaining that the separate temple had to be built because the colossus was too heavy for the landfill that the museum is built on.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1988/0...

The article details the (at the time) recent restoration of Ramses, which had been found lying in mud in the 1960s.

up
Voting closed 0

It was definitely the 80's for me, so you are correct - it was Ramses

up
Voting closed 0

I remember going to a travelling exhibit in the 70s or early 80s that I could have sworn was King Tut, and at the Boston Museum of Science.

up
Voting closed 0

The giant Guardian now standing in front of City Hall should be right at home in Boston. We have Egyptian Revival architecture scattered all around the city and Cambridge. One stands right in front of a Freedom Trail landmark. You can find them all on my blog on Egyptian Revival Monuments Part 1 (http://bit.ly/2RI5NOp) and Part 2 (http://bit.ly/2REAI9z)

up
Voting closed 0