Bolton Museum’s Egyptology exhibition, which is touring the Far East, has been nominated for a prestigious national award.

“Quest For Immortality: The Bolton Museum Collection”, which received its one millionth visitor last week, has been nominated in the international category of the Museum and Heritage Awards.

The exhibition is currently in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and will move to Shanghai, in China, in May.

It has already been taken to Taichung and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “It’s a great honour to be shortlisted for the awards, especially since the organisers received an unprecedented amount of entries this year.

“Even to be shortlisted is testament to the hard work of Dr Carolyn Routledge, Bolton’s curator of Egyptology, and conservator Pierrette Squires, who have been instrumental in making the exhibition such a success.

“The Quest for Immortality exhibition has recently welcomed its one millionth visitor in Taiwan and its success is a great achievement for Bolton Museum.”

The Museum will discover if it has been successful on Wednesday, May 16, at a glittering award ceremony in London, hosted by television personality Sue Perkins.

The council expects the exhibition to continue touring until 2014, with another four or five venues being lined up in China.

Each exhibition is different and lasts for about four months.

More than 250 objects from the Egyptology collection are touring the Far East.

The collection dates back to the 1880s when the daughter of a mill owner from the town donated a mummy and other items.

It has since been built up to more than 15,000 pieces and is now seen as among the best in the museum world.

Much of the collection is still on display at Bolton Museum.