Sir John Soane's museum recreates architect's vision of pharaoh's tomb

Soane spent 2,000 transporting 3,000-year-old carved sarcophagus of Seti I to his home for exhibition, and museum has recreated its eerie illumination

When the architect Sir John Soane finally managed to install his greatest treasure in his extraordinary combined home, studio and museum in London, he threw a three-day party to celebrate.

The sarcophagus of the pharaoh Seti I, carved from a single vast block of translucent alabaster, cost Soane 2,000 after the British Museum turned it down as too expensive. Getting in the 3,000-year-old relic, the size of a small boat and weighing several tonnes, involved knocking down a sizeable chunk of his back wall, and demolishing his unfortunate housekeeper's sitting room.