18 Feb 2015 They broke off Tutankhamun's beard, used glue
Categories: Calendar
The mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was damaged by Cairo museum staff seven years ago. It happened during preparations for the exhibition, when they were cleaning the mask and broke off the beard. They then decided to glue together one of the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt, but with inappropriate glue.
Museum staff used epoxy resin to repair it, but it left marks on the precious exhibit. The trio of restorers claimed that the museum management ordered the relic to be repaired quickly, which they said was why they used an inappropriate glue. They also said that they had actually removed the beard from the mask and deliberately, because it was coming loose.
At first glance, it was obvious that the beard was glued to the chin. The gap was left filled with a yellow substance.
"Epoxy resin has a high bonding capacity and is used on metal or wood, but I don't think it was suitable for such a precious object as Tutankhamun's golden mask," said one of the restorers.
The restorer, Christian Eckmann, claimed that the mask had probably been damaged by someone before them. However, the restoration by the restorers was not really successful. Once the beard was badly curled, the second time crooked, and each time they had to separate it from the mask again, remove the glue and start again. Among other things, they scratched the beard in the process, and their shoddy work was eventually repaired only by German and Egyptian specialists.
When word of the damaged mask got out, the Ministry of Antiquities announced that the glue would be removed and the mask repaired. The German and Egyptian experts therefore removed the mask from its display case in the museum and moved it to another part of the building, where they set to work.
The history of the Egyptian Museum dates back to 1902. It is located in Tahrir Square in the centre of Cairo. It hides 107 halls with 160,000 artefacts dating back 5,000 years. Tutankhamun's mask is one of the most famous exhibits in Cairo.
But Tutankhamun's mask is not the only relic that has been destroyed. Something similar happened in Spain. A priest in the town of Estella decided to have a 16th-century statue of St George, which traditionally depicts the saint as a knight wrestling with a dragon, repaired. He brought in a local art teacher to work on the monument.
When the work was finished, the servant of God went to see the result. He was shocked, because the teacher had covered the relatively realistic but faded sculpture with bright colours and turned the historical relic into something the Ministry of Culture described as "horrifying".
Sources: www.lidovky.cz, www.ct24.cz, www.iprima.cz, www.stoplusjednicka.cz, www.wikipedia.org
The article is included in categories:
Post
Ještě je otázka zda se po těch letech stále dál jedná o zlato a lazurit nebo už jen plech a sklo 😉
Navíc mě pokaždé ..... jak to napsat ..... fascinuje jak Egypťané ..... tedy ti co momentálně v Egyptě žijí ..... tvrdí že se co se týče staroegyptských památek že to je odkaz jejich předků.
Je to úplně to samé jako by nás v průběhu let například zabrali Číňané a za tisíc let vodili turisty do zřícenin pražského hradu a říkali ..... tohle postavili naši předci 😁
Před dvěma týdny jsem se vratil z Egypta a muzeum v Káhiře jsem jako tradičně nevynechal. Samozřejmě i expozici Tuta. Ta maska je absolutně dokonalá a poškození neni vůbec patrné. Letos restaurují obří dřevěnou truhlu a byla po mnoha letech otevřená a plná vyznamnych archeologů. Napraskal jsem tam mraky fotek i v místech kde je to zakázáno. Mám tam přátele, doktory egyptologie. Vždycky mi nachystaji nějakou lahůdku. Strašně rád se tam vracím. V Káhiře postavili nové muzeum a všechno se bude stěhovat. Už to nebude o tak těsném kontaktu s artefakty. Teď se dá spousty věcí dotknout.