Egypt moves last chariot of King Tut
CAIRO — Egypt moved the sixth and last chariot of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun on Saturday to the boy king’s vast collection of items in an under-construction museum near the pyramids in Giza.
The unique artifact, a major feature of the military museum for more than 30 years, paraded through Cairo with a military police escort to its final resting place at the Grand Egyptian Museum, home to thousands of artifacts spanning different dynasties of ancient Egypt. King Tut’s items, including the six chariots, are to be put on display in halls covering 7,000 square meters of the museum.
The Antiquities Ministry has been gradually moving King Tut’s belongings to the new museum to undergo restoration before they are put on display. The transfer of King Tut’s belongings has become a particularly sensitive issue.
In 2014 the beard attached to the ancient Egyptian monarch’s priceless golden mask was accidentally knocked off and hastily reattached with an epoxy glue compound, sparking uproar among archaeologists.
Saturday’s relocation of King Tut’s sixth chariot was preceded by the fourth International Tutankhamun Conference which was attended by a wide range of Egyptologists and archaeologists from the world over.
During the conference, Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said that the first phase of the museum, including King Tut’s halls, will be completed by the end of this year but the date for the museum’s soft opening has yet to be decided. The museum currently hosts more than 43,200 artifacts of which over 4,500 belong to King Tut alone. The museum’s grand opening is planned for 2022.
Archaeologist Zahi Hawass told reporters that excavation work on the tomb of King Tut’s wife, Ankhesenamun, is currently underway and he expects it to bear fruit soon.