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German restorer Christian Eckmann begins restoration work on the golden mask of King Tutankhamun over a year after the beard was accidentally broken off and hastily glued back with epoxy, at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015. The 3,300-year-old burial pharaonic mask was discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb along with other artifacts by British archeologists in 1922, sparking worldwide interest in archaeology and ancient Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
CAIRO (AP) — Restoration of the famed golden mask of Tutankhamun is underway in Cairo, over a year after the beard was accidentally knocked off and hastily glued back with epoxy.
A German-Egyptian team of experts showed off the mask in a laboratory Tuesday in the Egyptian Museum, detailing plans for how the glue will be scraped off and the beard carefully removed before being reattached by a method to be determined by a scientific committee.
Christian Eckmann, the lead restoration specialist, said the work should take a month or two, depending on how long it takes to remove the beard.
The mask is arguably the best-known piece in the museum, one of Cairo’s main tourist sites, which was built in 1902 and houses ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.
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