Wednesday, July 17, 2019

CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that the largest of King Tutankhuman’s three coffins has been removed from his tomb and transported to the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), where it will be restored for the first time. This wooden coffin is the only one to have been stored in Tutankhamun’s tomb since its discovery in 1922. The smallest coffin, carved from gold, and the middle-sized one, like the largest made of wood coated with layers of gold plaster, were put on display in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum. Eissa Zidan, GEM's head of first aid restoration, said the repair of cracks in the largest coffin’s layers of gold plaster and other damage is expected to take at least eight months. All three coffins will be put on display together when the GEM opens in 2020. For more, go to “Tut’s Mesopotamian Side.”