The Belfast man who stars in an BBC drama expected to hit our screens in the autumn has rejected claims it has been stuck by an ancient curse.

Stuart Graham fulfilled one of his career ambitions playing the complex character Howard Carter in the BBC's lavish recreation of the excavation of the Tutankhamun's tomb but was surprised when he opened yesterday morning's paper.

The Sunday Times carried a story about the drama being struck down by the supposed curse of the young Egyptian king and alleged it went massively over-budget and the crew faced all sorts of problems...

Tutankhamun's Curse 'Did Not Hit BBC Series', News Letter, Northern Ireland, UK, July 25, 2005.

Fans of Egyptian history can pay $25 admission plus a hundred or two in transportation costs to see the King Tutankhamen Exhibit on display in Los Angeles.

Or, they can suspend their disbelief for an afternoon and see a replica of the boy king's tomb at the Luxor for half the price and much less travel.   No, it's not the real thing, but it's surprisingly close.

The museum, which opened in 1993, consists of four rooms full of replicas that were crafted by artisans using the same tools, techniques and materials used by ancient Egyptians, said Gil Perez, director of rides and attractions at the Luxor...

Tut Redux, Las Vegas Review Journal, California, USA, August 01, 2005.

cf. Pharaonic Village.

The World Monuments Fund, a nonprofit that works to rescue and preserve imperiled places, recently released its global watch list of its 100 most endangered sites.   Places were selected by a panel of 10 experts in architecture, archeology, history, anthropology and other fields.

What's at risk: West Bank of the Nile River, Luxor, Egypt.   Archeological sites, including the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, burial sites of Egypt's New Kingdom rulers (1540-1075 BC), 40 temples and more.

Endangered by: Rising groundwater, theft, vandalism, uncontrolled tourism and development pressures.

Sites just clinging to existence, Los Angeles Times, Florida, USA, July 31, 2005.

cf. World Monuments Fund: West Bank.

A traveling exhibit of Egyptian antiquities will be at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids for more than three months.

Organized in part by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., "Treasures of Ancient Egypt: The Quest for Immortality" is scheduled to run Jan. 28 [2006] to May 7. [2006] It will cover two-thirds of the Van Andel Museum's third floor...

Public Museum of Grand Rapids to get Egyptian antiquities exhibit, AP via Tallahassee Democrat, Florida, USA, July 31, 2005.

A long-neglected area of Egyptian art — works associated with protection and healing — will be explored in the exhibition The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt, opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in fall, 2005.   By focusing on this fundamental, yet little known aspect of Egyptian art, the exhibition will provide a new perspective on some 65 of the most beautiful and intriguing works from the Museum's reowned collection.

The centerpiece will be the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus — the sole borrowed work in the exhibition — which is on loan from the New York Academy of Medicine.   This manuscript, dating from the Second Intermediate Period, is one of only two complete medical texts from ancient Egypt.   Rarely seen even by Egyptologists, the manuscript's presentation at the Metropolitan represents its first public display in more than half a century.

Ancient Art At Museum, Neighbor Newspapers, New York, USA, August 03, 2005.