Egypt starts first-ever restoration of King Tut's coffin
dpa
CAIRO (dpa)- Egypt on Sunday started a months-long restoration of the coffin of Tutankhamun for the first time since the boy pharaoh's tomb was discovered in 1922, senior officials said.
Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anany said the restoration of the golden wooden relic would take about eight months at the new Egyptian Grand Museum near Cairo.
"We expect at least eight months of work to save the sarcophagus," the minister said at the museum on Sunday.
The restoration process includes re-fixing golden layers that have fallen off the coffin, the head of the governmental Higher Council for Egyptian Antiquities, Mostafa al-Waziri, told dpa.
Last month, the Ministry of Antiquities said the outer coffin suffers from several forms of damage, and transferred it for restoration to the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is under construction near the Pyramids of Giza.
The treasure of the pharaoh, one of ancient Egypt's most famed rulers, will be the centrepiece of the museum, which is due to open next year.
Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, in 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter.
King Tut, as he is popularly known, was 9 years old when he became an Egyptian pharaoh. He ruled between 1333 and 1323 BC as one of the last kings of the 18th Dynasty.
In recent months, Egypt has unveiled a series of ancient discoveries in the hope of reviving its battered tourism industry, a main source of national income.
The industry has been hard hit by widespread unrest since the 2011 uprising against Egypt's long-time ruler Hosny Mubarak.
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