GRAND RAPIDS, MI – An exhibition telling the story of the discovery of King Tut's tomb comes to Grand Rapids next year.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum this morning unveiled plans to bring "The Discovery of King Tut" to Grand Rapids, opening May 16, 2015, at the public museum.

The exhibition with more than 1,000 reproductions of items from the tomb of Tutankhamun doesn't include authentic artifacts from the discovery, such as those that first traveled to the United States in the 1970s.

But the meticulously-fashioned objects recreate the find made by British archeologist Howard Carter of a previously unknown pharaoh and an untouched tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

"The story of King Tut has fascinated the world since the discovery of his tomb in 1922," said Dale Robertson, president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. "This exhibition presents the excavation itself as it was at the very moment it was revealed to the public."

Tutankhamun was a minor king of the 18th dynasty who reigned approximately from 1332 BC to 1323 BC. He became pharaoh at the age of 9 and died of unknown causes at age 19.

King Tut's successors erased his name from monuments and all records, meaning Tutankhamun was lost entirely to history until Carter discovered the tomb after decades of archeological work.

By using reproductions, "The Discovery of King Tut" portrays the scene that Carter first laid eyes upon less than a century ago.

"It's an extraordinary experience," said Mark Lach, a vice president and creative director for Premiere Exhibitions Inc., the presenter of the show that debuted in the United States in Kansas City and now is on display in San Diego.

Grand Rapids will be the third stop for the show created in Germany by Semmel Concerts GmbH.

Using objects fashioned mostly by Egyptian craftsman, "The Discovery of King Tut" displays items in context.

"They weren't necessarily placed the way we'd expect. You might say they were placed haphazardly," Lach said. "But they never were going to be seen again. They were going into the afterlife."

Past exhibitions of actual artifacts from King Tut's tomb included only a portion of the sensational archeological find. The 2007 show at the Field Museum of Natural History featured only about 50 items, exhibited behind glass.

King Tut's mummy, for instance, never has left the country and never will.

"The mummy itself still is in the tomb in the Valley of the Kings," Lach said. "It never left the tomb except to go into a CT scan."

But that CT scan was used reproduce a replica of the King Tut's mummy for the exhibition coming to Grand Rapids.

Popular items with audiences include a bust and a mannequin upon which King Tut's clothes were hung at night with a highly realistic face of the teenage pharaoh.

"His face is very human," Lach said. "It's not the gilded, gold, exaggerated features that were used to represent kings and pharaohs. "It's very human, very boyish."

The iconic gold mask of King Tut traveled to the United States in the 1970s, but it hasn't returned since.

"The future of seeing many great works of art and historical objects may be, in part, through reproductions," Lach said.

At present, authorities at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo have declared their historic treasurers will not leave the country again.

"It really was made clear to us that they never would travel again," he said. "When you combine that with the current political and social situation there today, it seems to be the case."

Tut was a minor king who reigned for only a decade. He seems to have had a mild case of scoliosis, which caused his spine to curve, as well as a clubbed foot. He seems to have suffered a leg fracture shortly before his death.

"He may have been killed by a fall from a chariot. No one will ever know," Lach said.

Yet thanks to the archeological find, King Tut has become known worldwide.

"If it weren't for the discovery of this intact tomb," Lach said, "he probably would have gotten lost in the pages of history."

Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk covers arts and entertainment for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jkaczmarczyk@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.