“Gold...Everywhere the glint of gold” – Howard Carter, 26th November 1927

In November 2007 the exhibition arrived at the O2 dome in Greenwich, East London to showcase over 130 actual artifacts recovered from the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, varying from simple cups and plates to some of the World’s most stunning jewellery. In addition to the exhibition area a hospitality room was to be constructed alongside the exhibition to enable companies to entertain guests with a private viewing of the exhibition before taking their seats for a gala dinner. Working in partnership with Cavendish hospitality Melville Teamwork was asked to design and build a 400m2 hospitality area in keeping with the Tutankhamun exhibition as a whole, in time evolving to become not just a hospitality area but better known as “The Pharaohs Palace”.Melville’s Creative Director Phil Baker spent many hours studying King Tut to ensure he understood how best to theme the hospitality area, the result was a stunning design encompassing mystery, intrigue and history which only added to the experience for the 300 visitors the Pharaohs Palace could accommodate at any one time.Once the design was signed off, Alan Craner lead the Melville team in the construction of the project in just three weeks, which included 6m high columns, mock ancient walling with recesses for silhouette lighting, hieroglyphic display panels, recreation of a Bedouin tent with soft fabrics to create a stunning reception area and an overhead lighting truss creating just the right ambiance and atmosphere for an enchanting dinner.We have only received positive feedback in respect to our work with Cavendish Hospitality on this project, the level of detail and effort put in creating an experience resulting in our having been short listed for numerous industry awards.The hospitality area created at the O2 has been so successful that it now seems likely that we may be contracted to provide a similar experience for the next city the Tutankhamun exhibition visits, Atlanta in the USA.