Beard of Egypt's King Tut hastily glued back on with epoxy
Source: AP
By BRIAN ROHAN
CAIRO (AP) — The blue and gold braided beard on the burial mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun was hastily glued back on with epoxy, damaging the relic after it was knocked during cleaning, conservators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo said Wednesday.
The museum is one of the city's main tourist sites, but in some areas, ancient wooden sarcophagi lay unprotected from the public, while pharaonic burial shrouds, mounted on walls, crumble from behind open panels of glass. Tutankhamun's mask, over 3,300 years old, and other contents of his tomb are its top exhibits.
Three of the museum's conservators reached by telephone gave differing accounts of when the incident occurred last year, and whether the beard was knocked off by accident while the mask's case was being cleaned, or was removed because it was loose.
They agree however that orders came from above to fix it quickly and that an inappropriate adhesive was used. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.
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FILE - This July 1996 photo shows the mask of King Tutankhamun at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. On Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2014, conservators at the museum say the blue and gold braided beard on the artifact was hastily glued back on with epoxy after it was detached during a cleaning. (AP Photo/Mohamed El-Dakhakhny)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0dad9fb502094fd09de4dd263662d4d0/beard-egypts-king-tut-hastily-glued-back-epoxy
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While trying to repair paint cracks on a small wooden head from the tut collection, they did more damage in five minutes than all the previous centuries combined.
