On Nov. 26, 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter stood staring through a small opening into the pharaonic tomb of King Tut when someone asked what he could see.

His famous reply?

“I see wonderful things.”

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Jeffrey Patchen, president and CEO of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, hopes to hear those same words at Saturday’s grand opening of “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs,” where visitors can see some of the same treasures that mesmerized Carter almost a century ago.

The blockbuster exhibition boasts 130 artifacts, 50 of which come from Tut’s tomb. There’s a pair of the young pharaoh’s gold sandals, the canopic jar and coffinette that stored his mummified stomach, and jewelry worn by the boy-king before his death in 1323 B.C., when he was still a teenager. The other 80 artifacts in the show span 2,000 years and are essentially a primer on ancient Egyptian history.

As of Monday, more than 75,000 tickets had been sold — more than double the number sold in the same time period at the show’s most recent stop, the Atlanta Civic Center. Patchen said the hectic lead-up to opening day has been “crazy and wonderful at the same time.”

He believes the exhibition can dwarf all shows in the museum’s past, including the opening of the permanent Dinosphere exhibit in 2004. To cope, the museum will add temporary staffing, and its army of volunteers will step out in force to greet and orient guests.

An exhibition of this kind has never been staged in a children’s museum; it usually goes to large city centers and museums, said Mark Lach, senior vice president of Arts and Exhibitions International, the private company that worked with the Egyptian government to bring the show here. “Tutankhamun” came to Indianapolis because of The Children’s Museum’s ongoing relationship with Egyptian authorities, he said.

Adding to the anticipation, the museum also is formally opening its new $15.6 million welcome center and a new exhibit, “Take Me There: Egypt.”

Lach, the show’s creative director, said the current exhibit is different from those seen in the 1970s, when the “Treasures of Tutankhamun” tour came to the United States. That was seen by more than 8 million people and gave rise to the museum “blockbuster.” Back then, the headdress and golden sarcophagus were included.

But Lach said the modern exhibit contains more than double the number of artifacts in the older blockbusters.

“In a way, these are better than the shows from the 1970s, because of the definite and powerful storyline they present,” he said. “You connect more. You understand their role more. They’re much richer in content and context.”

In addition to the Indianapolis show, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” will open Saturday at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. The wealth of King Tut’s tomb meant there were enough artifacts for dual shows, Lach said. Both have 50 objects from the tomb itself and an additional 80 pieces. The extra pieces in San Francisco are from the 18th dynasty — the period that most connects with Tut — while the pieces in Indianapolis represent a broader swath of Egyptian history.

Lach said the response to the show in Indianapolis will be interesting to watch, because a main point of intrigue for children when it comes to ancient Egypt is Tut himself, who was just 9 years old when he assumed power.

“That’s fascinating for kids,” Lach said. “Children see how each of them could have been the ruler of the most powerful nation on earth.”

Lucy Vanslyke, Aurora, Ill., who was passing through the museum last week, said she plans to take her four sons to the King Tut exhibition. When she was 11, she saw Egyptian artifacts at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tenn. Now she wants to pass the experience on to her boys.

“It was great,” she said. “The appeal, at least for the older boys, is the mystery of the mummy — it’s not so much the gold. But really, it’s everything, from the curse to the pyramids to the Sphinx. You can’t go wrong.”