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Are fakes as good as the real thing?

Eleonore Dresch | 10:30 UK time, Monday, 25 October 2010



You might say there are practical reasons for fakes. The reproduced Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas, for example, has become one of the city's trademarks.

Lets face it - not everyone has the time or money to visit Paris.

For some visitors, it's as iconic as the real one - for others, .

In Britain, archaeologists have now decided there's nothing wrong with faking the tomb of the most famous Egyptian pharaoh.


This coming Friday, , as discovered by the archeologist Howard Carter in 1922. The reproduction, modelled with digital technology, cost more than five million dollars.

"Is this exhibition a con, a delusion, a postmodern joke?" asks


from the Guardian newspaper. "Is it not a bit rich to sell tickets to a display that is really no more authentic than a horror film with mummies chasing screaming actors through digitally created pyramids?"

But the question is, so what? If technology allows us to experience something that seems authentic, does it matter if it isn't?

We'll talk to the curator of the exhibition this week on World Update. What do you think - can a fake be as good as the real thing?

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