Conservation: Tomb of Tutankhamun
Egypt

Conservation: Tomb of Tutankhamun


Heritage Key (Sean Williams)

An older story, but I managed to miss it somehow.

The tomb of Tutankhamun is one of the world's most famous ancient spots. Yet spots are precisely what are causing the decay of its beautiful wall paintings. The US-based Getty Conservation Institute have been drafted in to help mend the murals, but have been finding it an uphill struggle in the face of fierce desert weather and the onslaught of eager tourists.

Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, has long bemoaned the damage tourists are doing to tombs at the Valley of the Kings; the necropolis of ancient Thebes near modern Luxor. Dr Hawass has even mooted the idea of a replica Tut's tomb to cater for a burgeoning demand for the boy-king. Whether tourists will be satisfied without a trip to the real thing is debatable to say the least (have you say here).

And our composite picture (below), combining an original snap from Harry Burton and a recent shot by Sandro Vannini, clearly shows the brown spots have been in the tomb since Carter and Carnarvon first burst in over 80 years ago. So how much of its deterioration is due to tourism? Getty spokesperson Melissa Abraham tells us: "(The brown spots) have indeed been there since the tomb was discovered, and have never properly been analyzed, so that will be part of the GCI's task. The visitor impact on the site is a separate issue that also will be looked at."




- Brown Spots In Tomb Of Tutankhamun Indicative Of Rushed Burial?
EurekAlert In the tomb of King Tutankhamen, the elaborately painted walls are covered with dark brown spots that mar the face of the goddess Hathor, the silvery-coated baboons—in fact, almost every surface. Despite almost a century of scientific investigation,...

- Preserving The Tomb Of Tutankhamun
eTurboNews (Hazel Heyer) Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the J. Paul Getty Trust announced a new partnership for the conservation and management of the tomb of Tutankhamen, a five-year collaborative effort between the SCA and the Getty...

- Conservation: More About The Work To Be Carried Out On The Tomb Of Tutankhamun
Al Ahram Weekly Almost nine decades after its discovery the tomb of Tutankhamun is to be comprehensively restored, reports Nevine El-Aref Click to view caption Ancient Egyptian tombs are attracting more and more visitors. Their very popularity, however,...

- What's Going On In Luxor?
Al Ahram Weekly (Jill Kamil) An excellent survey of both the current work to conserve monuments and the increasing number of threats to the well being of such sites from a number of different sources. We all know that the "mansions of millions of years",...

- Getty Conservation Institute To Study The Tomb Of Tutankhamun
guardians.net Many thanks to Fred Sierevogel for the above link. There are some lovely photographs of the tombs of Tutankhamun and Nefertari. Since Carter opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, there have been many questions and concerns about the...



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