Petra Ticket Sales Top 10,000

April 1, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

With the opening of its Petra: Lost City of Stone exhibition still some 72
hours away, Calvin College has passed an impressive milestone: 10,000 tickets
sold.

The Petra Box Office at Calvin (526-7800 or 1-800-PETRA05) went over the
10,000 mark late in the day yesterday and currently stands at almost 10,700
tickets sold for the monumental exhibition.

Calvin's June Hamersma, director of the January Series and Petra co-chair,
says the early numbers are impressive and heartening.

"All along," she says, "we've said that Petra is Calvin's gift to the people
of West Michigan and beyond. We knew from the first time that we saw the
exhibition (in New York City) that this was an experience people would never
forget. And we knew that it was both a great fit with Calvin's educational
mission and a complement to the many outstanding cultural offerings already
available in the area. So, to see people responding so enthusiastically before
the exhibit even opens is very exciting."

Petra: Lost City of Stone is the most comprehensive exhibition ever presented
on the ancient Middle Eastern city of Petra, and its creators, the Nabataeans.
It comes to Calvin College and Grand Rapids, Michigan for the third and final
leg of its U.S. journey from April 4 to August 15, 2005.

The exhibition first was conceived in 1994 by the Cincinnati Art Museum, which
joined forces with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in a
decade-long effort to gather the 200 exceptional objects that comprise the
exhibit. Items on display include stone sculptures and reliefs, ceramics,
metalwork, artworks in various media and other priceless artifacts. All are on
loan from collections in Jordan and throughout Europe, and many are on display
in the United States for the first time in history.

At a special media preview earlier this week Calvin welcomed Karim Kawar,
Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States of America
and the Republic of Mexico.

Kawar was amazed by the collection of art and artifacts on display as part of
Petra.

"This is truly an extraordinary exhibition," he said, "a testimony to the
special friendship Jordan shares with the United States. It not only brings our
two cultures together, but also strengthens the bond between the people of
Jordan and the people of the United States."

Organized by the American Museum of Natural History and the Cincinnati Art
Museum, and presented under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania
Al-Abdullah of Jordan, Petra is the first major cultural collaboration between
Jordan and the United States. Air transportation generously provided by Royal
Jordanian. A lead, local sponsor for Petra is Huntington Bank - West
Michigan.

-end-
Received on Fri Apr 1 11:23:39 2005