Bolton Museum has scooped a prestigious national award for its touring Egyptology exhibition, currently wowing visitors in the Far East.

“Quest For Immortality: The Bolton Museum Collection”, which received its one millionth visitor earlier this year, has won the international category of the “Museum Oscars” — the Museum and Heritage Awards. The exhibition has now moved to Shanghai, in China, after spending 12 months at different venues in Taiwan.

Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Cliff Morris, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and a great honour.

“The exhibition has surpassed all expectations since its installation in Taipei, Taiwan, last June. The exhibition has enabled us to showcase our collection on an international stage and opened up a whole range of new opportunities for us to develop the museum’s Egyptology department.

“The Bolton Museum team behind the exhibition has worked tirelessly to make it a success and this award is testament to their hard work and dedication to what is a fascinating subject.”

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

About 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.