King Tut's gold mask went back on display at the Egyptian Museum on Wednesday after undergoing a two-month restoration process in the hands of German-Egyptian experts following an incident that resulted in the mask's beard falling off.
The beard fell off Tutankhamun's mask by accident in August of 2014 while workers were fixing the artifact's museum lighting. After the incident, the workers hurriedly glued the beard back on using epoxy, which only made the situation worse, as the glue damaged the relic.
The restoration began in October of this year only after studies were made about which materials and methods would be best to use
"We indeed found them to be the natural materials which the ancient Egyptian used; they are still the best tools: beeswax. It was prepared well and the beard was attached very successfully," said Mamdouh el-Damaty, Egypt's antiquities minister, according to The Times of Israel.
Tutankhamun's death mask was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist. It was found together with the mummy of the young king.
When it was discovered by Carter, the beard was reportedly already loose. "Ninety years after Carter accomplished the first restoration of the mask in December 1925, we have the pleasure to present the mask in its original form," said Christian Eckmann, one of the German specialists that handled the restoration, according to MSN.
The mask remains one of the top attractions in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
