What the world might discover from the King Tut mask restoration

German expert Christian Eckmann is leading the restoration of King Tut’s famous mask, which was damaged by a botched repair job. DW met him in Cairo to find out what’s hiding behind that clumsy layer of glue.

Since the golden burial mask of King Tutankhamun was unearthed nearly a century ago, visitors from around the world have flocked to the Egyptian museum to view the famed relic. An icon of ancient Egypt, it has become one of the world’s most famous works of art.

So in August 2014, when the beard attached to the 3,300-year-old mask was knocked off while being returned to its display case after workers replaced a burned out light, panic set. In a hasty attempt in the early morning hours, workers glued the beard back on with insoluble epoxy resin. That proved to be a major error.

« They did not attach it in its original position, the beard was slightly bent to the left side, » Christian Eckmann, the archaeologist tasked with restoring the artifact, told DW in an interview in the garden of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

« They also put some glue onto the chin and beard, so it was visible. It was not adequately done, and then in January 2015 the press found out, and the whole case was a scandal somehow, » Eckmann explains. He is a renowned restorer from the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Archaeological research institute in Mainz…

Auteure : Kristen McTighe
Tiré du site web : DW
Date : 08-12-2015
Photo : Getty Images/H. Magerstaedt

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