After nearly a century on display in the old Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the famous gold mask of Tutankhamun and other valuable exhibits will be transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is set to open on July 3 near the pyramids of Giza.
Visitors can see the world-famous funerary mask of the young pharaoh for several more days before it is included among more than 5,000 objects that belonged to him in the new museum, a megaproject worth billions of dollars west of Cairo.
“Only 26 objects from the Tutankhamun collection, including the gold mask and two coffins, are still here” in the museum in Tahrir Square, the museum’s director, Ali Abdel Halim, told France Press.
He added that everything should be transferred to the new museum soon.
Among the last items are a gold casket, a gilded casket, a cosmetics box, miniature coffins and a royal tiara.
Tutankhamun’s treasures, registered at the Egyptian Museum in 1934, have long been a centerpiece for the museum, but its neoclassical building with outdated infrastructure contrasts with the high-tech installations of the new museum opening in Giza.
The museum is set to become the world’s largest dedicated to a single civilization, with more than 100,000 exhibits, more than half of which will be on display.
In a special wing, most of Tutankhamun’s treasures will be displayed together for the first time since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the pharaoh’s intact tomb in 1922.
His mummy will remain where it was originally laid out in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor because it is a vital part of the archaeological site, Egyptian officials said.
A virtual replica will, however, be displayed at the new museum.
The museum in Tahrir Square still has about 170,000 objects, its director said, including treasures from Tutankhamun’s ancestors, Juya and Thuya, and objects from the ancient city of Tanis, as well as the gold funeral mask of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemope.
A total of 32,000 objects have already been transferred from the reserves and exhibition halls of the Egyptian Museum to the new museum. The museum director said that the space vacated by the removal of Tutankhamun’s collection will be filled with a new exhibition on the scale of the pharaoh’s treasury.
Tutankhamun’s Mask – a Precious Artifact of Ancient Egypt
The most impressive, and probably the most important, object found in the pharaoh’s tomb is definitely Tutankhamun’s death mask, which tourists can see during a trip to the Great Pyramids and a visit to the National Archaeological Museum in Cairo. This is certainly one of the biggest attractions in Egypt.
Tutankhamun’s mask is a gold mask, weighing 24 kilograms and made of pure gold. Its dimensions are: 54 cm high, 39 cm wide and 49 cm deep. In addition to gold, it has a lapis lazuli semi-precious stone inlaid, as well as other, various semi-precious stones. It is assumed that the face represented on the mask was modeled after Tutankhamun’s real face, and represents a realistic, but also considered idealized image of the boy-king’s face.
Tutankhamun’s death mask has a royal headscarf (nemes) on its head, and a cobra symbolizing the power of the Egyptian king. The pharaoh’s ears are pierced and have earrings. Tutankhamun’s mask also has a false ceremonial beard, which is made of colored glass and precious stones. The eyes are made of quartz, almond-shaped.
Tutankhamun’s mask carries a great deal of mystique and intrigue, and in addition to it, other valuable objects were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb that were left with him in the grave so that he could enjoy the abundance and wealth in the afterlife: leopard skin and fur, several chariots, a few dozen jars of wine, as well as bows and arrows. Carter, who discovered the tomb, spent almost a decade sorting through 5,398 objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Photo: Museum/Giza
