A town in Dorset has an unique connection to this week's centenary celebrations of a monumental discovery

Today, Friday, November 4, marks exactly 100 years since archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

Michael Ridley, director of The Tutankhamun Exhibition, says the Dorchester exhibition has a special significance for the 'Tut Centenary'.

“We are thrilled that The Tutankhamun Exhibition in Dorchester is the only major exhibition on Tutankhamun in the UK on view during the Tut Centenary.

"Over the years we have not only been the inspiration and model for other Tutankhamun exhibitions around the world, but have had more visitors over the years than any other exhibition of its kind.

"We are now looking forward to the future and perhaps new discoveries, particularly the possibility of Tut’s tomb hiding the burial of Nefertiti."

The museum in High West Street, Dorchester, is an important ancient Egypt outpost, Mr Ridley said.

Dorchester's Tutankhamun Exhibition was created in 1987, 15 years after the Treasures of Tutankhamun in 1972 at The British Museum.

Mr Ridley said: "This groundbreaking exhibition of the original treasures from Cairo created a new Tut mania that grew over the years and could not be satisfied.

"Many of the major Tut treasures had suffered stress following their world tour.

"In an effort to preserve the treasures from any future stress, the major treasures such as the gold mask, were prohibited from leaving their home in Egypt again.

"This Tutankhamun Exhibition showing in Dorchester was designed and created to overcome this problem."

The exhibition was consulted and advised on the major O2 exhibition in London, Mr Ridley said.

Treasures in the Tutankhamun Exhibition have been carefully crafted by meticulous reference to the original antiquities, photographic records and detailed measurements and diagrams. Expert craftsmen and artists re-created the treasures using, wherever practicable, materials and methods used in making the originals. They are not casts.

This care and accuracy of the archaeologists and craftsmen extended to the reconstruction of Tut’s antechamber that has been re-created exactly as it was when Howard Carter discovered it.

It is the first exhibition to include a forensically accurate organic facsimile of Tutankhamun's mummy and has featured in many national and international television programmes, including regional BBC news broadcasts this week.