UPDATE: A representative at Pacific Science Center tells me this is a different show than the one currently in New York City, with different artifacts. So, if you saw that National Geographic-produced show in San Francisco or NYC you’ll see a different show at PSC. Still, the burial mask is not allowed to leave Egypt.

It’s official: King Tut is making his way back to Puget Sound next year after a 30-year absence.

The Pacific Science Center announced today it’s bringing “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” to Seattle, opening May 24, 2012.

Museum officials and tour organizers make a lot of references to the “return” of King Tut after 30 years. But it’s not the same show (“The Treasures of Tutankhamun”) that wowed crowds in the 1970s.

I saw a similar National Geographic-produced King Tut show at San Francisco’s de Young Museum last fall. And it just opened in New York City.

The centerpiece of the last show and indeed the icon of all the Tut treasures – the golden burial mask – isn’t a part of this show. A DeYoung staffer told me in San Francisco last fall that they will never be allowed to leave Egypt again.

So, the coffinette you see in the photo (sized to accommodate a human internal organ) is the closest you’ll get to the full size golden coffins and masks.

In some ways it’s a better show (more artifacts, slicker production values) but let’s face it: the marquee attraction are those masks and coffins.

For those you’ll have to go to Cairo.

Group tickets to “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” will go on sale this fall on Pacific Science Center’s website, pacificsciencecenter.org.