Exhibition: Golden Tut Rules

He was just a boy when he became king and only a teenager when he died mysteriously, but people's fascination with King Tut endures more than 3,000 years after his death.

The ancient Egyptian ruler's burial riches continue to draw crowds, most recently at the Dallas Museum of Art in the encore exhibition "Tutankhamunand the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

With just two weeks left to see the most-visited exhibit in the institution's 100-year history, the Dallas museum is planning several special events, including a "Mummy Marathon," in which the exhibit will be open round the clock from 9 a.m. May 16 through 7 p.m. May 17.

Dallas is the first and only stop in the Southwest for the exhibit, which next will travel to the de Young Museum, San Francisco.

Fashioned of gold and adorned with colored glass and semiprecious stones, the miniature coffin captures the visage of Egypt's best-known ruler.

The coffinette, which once contained King Tut's liver, is one of the many iconic images of ancient Egypt portrayed in "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

The exhibit includes more than 50 items from Tutankhamun's tomb, including his royal diadem or crown, twin statuettes depicting him as king of Lower and Upper Egypt and the ruler's favored gold dagger, which was placed on his mummy.

Other items from Tut's tomb include a small ebony and ivory chair he probably used as a child, tiny game boards complete with playing pieces and several

examples of intricate jewelry made of gold and inlaid with semi-precious stones.