CAIRO // The restoration of King Tutankhamun’s world-famous golden mask will begin on Saturday, over a year after the beard was accidentally broken off and hastily glued back on with epoxy, Egypt’s state-run news agency said on Friday.
The agency said a German-Egyptian team will repair the mask at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The beard became detached during work on the relic’s lighting last August and then was hastily gued back on with epoxy.
In a January press conference by Egypt’s antiquities ministry, days after the botched reattachment came to light, restoration specialist Christian Eckmann said the epoxy could be removed and the mask properly restored.
He added that the beard on the 3,300-year-old pharaonic mask had likely loosened over the years and also been detached previously.
* Associated Press