Go for the Cheese Steak, Stay for the Culture

	Unearth Egyptian Treasures
	Photo: Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic Society 2005

The City of Brotherly Love has come a long way since the 1970s, when it sported one of the worst official slogans of all time: "Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is."

These days the historical town is looking grand, with plenty of activities for day-trippers or for those planning an extended stay. From museums to restaurants, there's something to please every palate.

Among the hot tickets in Philly this summer are "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, and "Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun," at the Penn Museum, both running into the fall.

All That Glitters

Most of the 130 objects in the blockbuster show at the Franklin Institute have never been displayed outside Egypt. Items from Tut's tomb and other sites from the Valley of the Kings -- including a dagger from Tut's mummy, his crown, and remarkably well-preserved pieces of wooden furniture -- are presented.

A large carved head of Akhenaten, who was probably Tut's father, has an elongated, practically extraterrestrial look very different from the familiar stylized Egyptian sculpture.

The most spectacular piece in the exhibit is the coffin of Tuya, who is believed to have been Tut's great-grandmother. This gleaming 7-foot-long gilded wood artifact is embossed with hieroglyphics and inlaid with enamel. The serene representation of Tuya's face glows with so much personality that the queen almost seems to look back at viewers gazing into her eyes.

Don't expect to see Tut's golden death mask at the Franklin Institute. The image of the boy king used to publicize this exhibit looks remarkably like the world-famous showstopper from the 1970s blockbuster exhibit.

However, the gleaming visage used in advertising the current show is actually a detail from a small "canopic coffinette," which once held the mummified remains of Tut's liver. The golden vessel is inlaid with carnelian, crystal, obsidian and glass and is quite stunning in its own right.

The Amarna exhibit at the Penn Museum may be less glitzy, but it's more historically detailed. It focuses on the generation immediately preceding Tut, when King Akhenaten moved the royal court from Thebes to Amarna and attempted to establish a monotheistic religion.