The mummy of the celebrated boy king is to be displayed inside his tomb in the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's west bank from next month, writes Nevine El-Aref The mummy of Tutankhamun will be placed on public display for the first time in November when it is removed from its original golden sarcophagus and placed in a climate controlled plexi-glass case in the antechamber of his tomb in Luxor. Few people have had an opportunity to see the mummy of one of Egypt's most mysterious rulers since it was discovered by Howard Carter in November 1922. It has been subjected to scientific scrutiny only rarely, in 1968, 1978 and 2005, when x-rays and CT- scans were carried out on the Pharaoh's mummified body. Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass has long been keen that efforts be made to preserve Tutankhamun's mummy, which is in poor condition. It suffered extensive damage at the hands of Carter and his team as they attempted to remove the many ornaments from the mummy, including the boy king's golden funerary mask. The pelvis was separated from the trunk and the arms and legs detached. Hot knives and iron bars were variously used to remove amulets and other jewellery. Carter's team then attempted to reconstruct the body they had dismembered, reassembling the parts in a sand tray and even reattaching the hands and feet with resin. In 1968, when the mummy was re-examined, it took days to return the fingers to their original position. Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly that the humidity and heat generated by the breath of the thousands of visitors that daily visit Tutankhamun's tomb constitutes an ongoing threat to the condition of the mummy, which currently rests inside his gleaming anthropoid sarcophagus. "Removing it to a climate-controlled plexi- glass showcase, like those used to display the royal mummies in the Egyptian museum in Cairo, will not only help preserve the mummy but will allow visitors to see the real face of the Pharaoh," he says. Only the face will be left uncovered. The rest of the body will remain covered with linen. The move is expected to occur by mid- November, ahead of the opening of the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibition in London. To coincide with the new display Hawass plans to open 16 jars from Tutankhamun's tomb, recently rediscovered in a storage area in Luxor. Originally found by Carter, the jars had been all but forgotten over the years. Hawass expects them to contain food, grain, beer, wine and other items the king was thought to need in his afterlife. Hawass first saw the face of Tutankhamun during the 2005 CT-scan studies that allowed researchers to create a three dimensional reconstruction of the Pharaoh's appearance. "I was fascinated," says Hawass, who noted that the king's prominent teeth are similar to those of his royal ancestors. "Meeting King Tut face to face was very personal... It was an important moment in my life." The 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's intact tomb stunned the world. He ruled Egypt between 1361 and 1352 BC, and died at the age of 19.
