It might be more Hollywood than British Museum, but this ancient Egyptian showcase delivers on spectacle, scarabs and VR baubles
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First off, the important thing to know about Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition is what it is and what it isn’t.
Madrid Artes Digitales’ extensive installation at Excel’s Immerse LDN isn’t a serious showcase of archaeological artefacts.
If you want to see the genuine stuff, pop over to the British Museum where they have a vast array of real things dating back 3,000 years.
The Russell Square institution has more than 100 mummies alone and they’ll let you look at them for free.
Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition has perhaps a dozen, somewhat sorry-looking historic objects, plus a bunch of replicas in varying degrees of quality.
Somebody didn’t want to pay the extra cash for the King Tut mask with the inlays, so the colours are just painted on.
But this is because Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition is really all about spectacle.
a flurry of facts
Visitors are initially introduced to a series of museum-like displays offering info on the Boy King and the discovery of his barely-touched tomb in the 1920s.
These are pretty informative, presenting a drip-feed of knowledge.
There are teasing mysteries too such as the questions over Tutankhamum’s parentage – was his mum actually the famous Nefertiti, for example?
There’s quite a bit on archaeologist Howard Carter, his partnership with Lord Carnarvon and how their blockbuster discovery took the world by storm.
There’s some depth – just enough to get the neurons firing as we wander into a space grandly titled “The Treasure Room”.
But this is not a touring museum, it’s an entertainment.
The replicas that lie within – including a full-size mummy, the ersatz death mask plus the odds-and-ends collection of bits from ancient Egypt – are only an aperitif.
What this “exhibition’s” creators are really all about is digital.
Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition, a digital spectacle
First we enter a room with projections on all four walls and the floor. Here, a 30-minute looped video presents a visually arresting vision of – what exactly?
Golden geckos run around the floor, sandstorms act as screen wipes, followed by infestations of scarabs, scorpions and, at one point, an unstoppable cascade of golden jewellery.
Lightning flashes, deep voiceovers intone important-sounding words. If there is a narrative at all, presumably it’s the life of King Tut, but to be honest, that’s not the point.
It’s a surprisingly fun and engaging watch.
Imaginative in the extreme (Gods come to life, temple pillars telescopically retract for unclear reasons), it’s like an ancient Egyptian acid trip made flesh for our amusement.
This is equally true of the not one, but two VR experiences that follow.
The first takes place in a swivel chair and starts off as a tour of the tomb.
Reality is quickly left behind, however as we ascend to the afterlife, complete with lava, giant God statues and a heart weighing ceremony with Anubis.
The graphics aren’t amazing and the content is balderdash – Nefertiti is now definitely Tut’s mum, for example – but it’s diverting for seven minutes or so.
In the second one, we don headsets and wander around a room.
One minute we’re in the tomb, the next we’re on the dig site.
Then we’re half trapped under some poorly rendered sand.
Other guests are represented as the top third of a greyscale Howard Carter, which adds an extra level of silliness to proceedings.
Maybe there’s a plot but who knows? And frankly, who cares?
At about £25 a go the ride is amusing.
There’s a light shower of facts, followed by at least 90 minutes of solid nonsense that’s worth a watch purely because nobody seems at any point to have queried whether it’s a good idea to flood the screen with golden rings, just because you can.
Even what purports to be a serious holographic presentation of the mummification process features sky water, or something.
You have to see it to believe it.
4/5 ****
key details: Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition
Tutankhamun: The Immersive Exhibition is booking until June 29, 2025, at Excel London’s Immerse LDN in Royal Victoria Dock.
Tickets start at £22 plus booking fees and can be purchased via Eventim or Fever.
The exhibition is located about five minutes from Custom House station offering DLR and Elizabeth Line services.
Find out more about the experience here
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