The face of King Tut: the world's most famous mummy in a renovated tomb

After nearly a decade of hard work, Egyptian conservatives have repaired the recently restored tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun of Egypt, better known as King Tut. In the series of photos published on the recently restored tomb, the most striking show the face and the mummified feet of Pharaoh.

The grave is in the Valley of the Kings, located on the west bank of the Nile, in front of the southern city of Egypt, Luxor. The work, done by the Getty Conservation Institute after years of research and officially presented on Thursday, aims to reduce the scuffs and damage caused by dust, as well as the micro-organisms that grow with the breath and moisture brought by the tourists.

The almost intact tomb of pharaoh-child died at 19 Howard Carter discovered it on the western edge of the Nile in 1922. For many, this pharaoh embodies the glory of ancient Egypt, because his tomb contained treasures of the eighteenth dynasty, which ruled from 1569 to 1315 BC.

The grave has been in the last decades Victim of his own successto the point of being seriously threatened by human impact. Called to the rescue in 2009, the team of international experts has just completed its work for a better safeguard of the underground tomb discovered in the Egyptian desert.

"100 years of visits, after being sealed for 3,000 days! Can you imagine the impact on the condition of the grave?" Neville Agnew, project leader for the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), Angels. "Visitors, Moisture, Dust …" Agnew has listed the factors that have changed this jewel of archeology.

Since 2009, this scientist led the team of 25 specialists – archaeologists, architects, engineers and microbiologists – who stopped their work only for some time after the 2011 Egyptian revolution and political instability who followed.

The first step was an exhaustive study, especially of the state of the famous yellow and ocher wall paintings that adorn the burial chamber of the young pharaoh. Lori Wong, curator specializing in murals, sought above all to try to understand "the material composition of paintings, how they were prepared and applied".

The goal: "understand the current state of the paintings, check if they are in danger and establish a plan to protect them in the future," said the specialist. Introduced in the tomb named by archaeologists "KV62", microscopes of scientists could even examine with the greatest precision the mysterious "brown spots", features of this royal tomb.

The fear was that these spots might become a threat to Tutankhamun's mural representations, painted especially beside the goddess Nut, who had received her in the kingdom of God. But scientists have managed, through this conservation project, to establish that they were microscopic organisms long dead, well informed. AFP.

The only problem is that it is impossible to eliminate them because they are deeply rooted in the table. "We did conservation, not restoration," insisted Agnew. Attempts to restore were made earlier, he added, noting that the GCI's mission was to stabilize and conserve the site. "And, these brown spots are also part of the story," he explained.

In parallel, the architects redesigned the platform where the visitors are, in order to keep them away from the fragile wall, while the engineers have developed a new ventilation system for limit the devastating effects of carbon dioxide (CO2), moisture and dust.

Although the most beautiful pieces of Tutankhamun's treasure are found in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the tomb still houses the powerful pharaoh's mummy, which was placed in an oxygen-free glbad box with its outer gilt wood sarcophagus. According to the Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawbad, former Minister of Antiquities, precursor of the project in 2009, "the GCI saved the tomb of Tutankhamun".

"However, I think that after this great job, we should limit the number of visitors," said one who is one of the most prestigious Egyptologists today. "If we let mbad tourism enter the grave, it will not last more than 500 years," He warned before advocating to completely cancel the tours to preserve the place. "We have to think about the future," Hawbad concluded. S.D.