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World to gaze on King Tut's face

Other News Materials 4 November 2007 10:00 (UTC +04:00)

The face of one of Egypt's most mysterious ancient rulers, the boy king Tutankhamun, is being put on public view for the first time on Sunday.

His mummy is being displayed in a climate-controlled case inside his tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings.

The event comes exactly 85 years after the site was discovered by the British explorer Howard Carter.

Only about 50 people are thought to have seen his face since then though thousands have seen his sarcophagus.

The face remained intact because of the mummification process and will continue to be protected from heat and humidity.

It is more than 3,000 years since Tutankhamun died, probably still in his teens.

Although he was a fairly minor royal, the treasures that were unearthed have captivated the world and drawn millions to the Valley of the Kings.

Egypt's chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, says the remains of Tutankhamun and other relics are now under threat from the heat and the humidity brought into the tomb by the vast crowds.

They are being removed from its original golden sarcophagus and placed in a climate-controlled plexi-glass case in the antechamber of his tomb. ( BBC )

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