Pharaoh Tutankhamun's famed golden funeral mask to go back on display in Cairo

Cairo: Ancient pharaoh Tutankhamun’s famed golden funeral mask will go back on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo next week after it was accidentally damaged by museum workers over a year ago. “Necessary restoration” has been completed on the 3,200-year-old treasure, which will be back on public display from December 16, Egypt’s antiquities minister Mamdouh El Damaty announced. [caption id=“attachment_2540422” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Replicas of Egyptian King Tutankhamun’s magnificent burial goods. AFP[/caption] The mask’s blue and gold braided beard was accidentally broken off and hastily re-attached with the wrong glue, after it was knocked during cleaning work in August 2014. Dry epoxy on the mask was scraped off, leaving permanent scratch marks. Germany’s foreign affairs ministry donated 50,000 euros ($55,010) for the restoration work which was carried out by a joint Egyptian and German team over a period of two months. The mask was discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb along with other artefacts by British archaeologists in 1922, sparking worldwide interest in ancient Egypt. The ‘boy king’ was 18 or 19 at the time of his death in 1323 B.C. and was the son of ancient pharaoh Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) and one of Akhenaten’s sisters, although it is not known which one. IANS