Tut’s face revealed to public for first time

Frenzy of publicity
The unveiling of Tut's mummy comes amid a frenzy of international publicity for the boy king. A highly publicized museum exhibit traveling the globe drew more than 4 million people during the initial four-city American-leg of the tour. The exhibit will open later this month in London and after it will make a three-city encore tour in the U.S. beginning with the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Egyptian tourism industry is hoping to capitalize on that interest and draw tourists to Luxor to see something they couldn't at the museum — Tut's mummy. More than 9 million tourists visited Egypt last year — up from 8.7 million the previous year, the Egyptian Tourist Authority said.

The tourists will begin viewing the mummy Monday, Hawass said. The mummy will remain in the tomb indefinitely — unlike other Egyptian royal mummies, who are displayed in museums.

Canadian tourist Bryan Wadson said he and his wife would try to make it back to the Valley of the Kings for the second time on Monday because they missed the mummy Sunday.

"We're running out of time, but will try," he said after taking a photo with Hawass.

But not every tourist was eager to find out that Tut will be removed from his sarcophagus and put on display.

"I really think he should be left alone in quiet, in peace," said British tourist Bob Philpotts. "This is his resting place, and he should be left (there)."

Scientific benefits
John Taylor, an assistant keeper at the British Museum's department of ancient Egypt and Sudan, said tourists won't be the only ones to benefit from putting Tut on display in a climate-controlled case.

"In some ways, it could be advantageous to monitor the condition to see if the mummy is stable," he said by telephone from London.

Hawass said along with putting Tut on display, experts will begin another project trying to determine the pharaoh's precise royal lineage. It is unclear if he is the son or a half brother of Akhenaten, the "heretic" pharaoh who introduced a revolutionary form of monotheism to ancient Egypt and was the son of Amenhotep III.

"Everyone is dreaming of what he looks like. The face of Tutankhamun is different from any king in the Cairo museum. With his beautiful buck teeth, the tourists will see a little bit of the smile from the face of the golden boy," Hawass said.

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