Its the first-ever restoration project for the boy pharaoh's sarcophagus.
Get ready for King Tut to be back and better than ever.
Researchers in Egypt removed the famed boy pharaoh’s gold-covered sarcophagus from its tomb for the first time since it was discovered in a bid to restore it in time for a new museum opening next year.
“The state of conservation of the coffin is very fragile because it was never restored since its discovery," said Egypt’s antiquities minister, Khaled el-Anany.
Officials said restoration will take at least eight months and they hope to have it ready in time for the new Grand Egyptian Museum, built near the pyramids of Giza just outside of Cairo.
“We made first aid intervention, then we moved the coffin to the museum,” said el-Anany. “It was kept in the isolation hall during seven days. Then the fumigation started a few days ago for three weeks.”
King Tutankhamun’s 3,000-year-old tomb and the treasures he was buried with were discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.
Tutankhamun was only 9 years old when he ascended to the throne. He ruled as pharaoh between 1223 and 1232 B.C. before his death at 18 or 19 years old.
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