BOLTON museum has recorded a massive increase in visitor numbers as Egyptomania sweeps through the town.

And its latest showcase of artefacts inspired by the ancient civilisation have even proved more popular than fearsome dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The museum’s ancient Egypt exhibition attracted 13,923 visitors last week — more than the museum saw in the whole of the previous month.

And it eclipsed last year’s popular Dinosaur Week, attracting almost 6,000 more visitors.

Numbers were boosted by children taking part in Egypt-themed activities during half-term.

An average of 2,000 people a day visited the museum last week as children enjoyed activities such as pyramid building, Egyptian drawing and making death masks and pectoral collars.

The exhibition comes just months after the museum was named as one of Greater Manchester’s top tourist attractions, proving more popular than the likes of the Imperial War Museum.

Cllr Ismail Ibrahim, executive member for culture, young people and sport, said: “The visitor figures for Egyptomania during the special week of events were astonishing.

“We are thrilled that so many families decided to take advantage of the free activities that were on offer.

“A lot of schools are studying Egypt at the moment so I think the opportunity to learn about the history of the country in a fun, hands-on way was too good to miss.

“There is often a real buzz about the place and it’s great to see so many people enjoying one of Bolton’s best assets.”

The Egyptomania exhibition runs until May.