"The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt" may be one of the biggest and broadest-reaching Egyptian art shows ever. But it owes its existence to a boy king.

The first major Egyptian art show that toured the country — "Treasures of Tutankhamen" in 1976 — accomplished two things. It started a revolution in museums and began a pop culture fascination with Egyptology.

Organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 1976 exhibit of relics and treasures was the first of many Egyptian-themed shows that would dot museums across the world. According to the Portland Art Museum, three major Egyptian exhibits have either visited or originated here since the 1970s, including "19th Century Photographs of Egypt From the Schubert Collection" in 1989, "Splendours of Ancient Egypt" and "Along the Nile: Early Photos from Egypt," both in 1998.

'Tutankhamen' started museums on quest for blockbuster, D.K. Row, The Oregonian, Oregon, USA, November 05, 2006.

The Portland Art Museum's permanent collection [of photographs] includes about 150 photos from this [early] era by some of the most celebrated photographers of their day, including J. Pascal Sebah. Sebah first made his name in Constantinople with views of ancient ruins, portraits and local people in traditional dress. In 1873 he opened his first studio branch in Egypt, and that's when his career accelerated. Even after Sebah's death in 1886, his son and others continued the Sebah studio until 1952, long after snap cameras had made photography a ubiquitous, affordable and easy-to-use technology.

But the views made by Sebah and such contemporaries as Francis Frith for tourists in 19th-century Egypt were a far cry from snapshots.

"You get this sense of wonder," Toedtemeier says. "They're often very elegant and beautifully composed, but there's also this immediacy that's almost blunt. And you add to that the discovery of these ruins, these temples and tombs. People just found it very exotic. Egypt was blowing people's socks off right and left..."

Photography from late 19th century is treasure in itself, Brian Libby, The Oregonian, Oregon, USA, November 05, 2006.

Egypt has pyramids, China has a wall and Greece has the Parthenon — all evidence of ancient and great civilizations.

Ever heard of ancient Bosnians?

Probably not. But some are seeing pyramids towering above a drab Bosnian town — perhaps pyramids bigger than the Egyptians built.

Tourists are flocking to buy trinkets, to eat pyramid pizza and pyramid cake, and stay at the local hotel, re-named the Pyramid of the Sun.

"Last year here, we had 20,000 tourists in the whole summer," Davor Pekic, owner of the Pyramid of the Sun, said through a translator. "This year, we had that many tourists on one day..."

Not me though...

Ancient Pyramids of Bosnia? Many Are Believers, Nick Watt, ABC News, California, USA, October 29, 2006.