King Tut's Mask Getting Restored After Botched Epoxy Job

A team of German-Egyptian archaeologists and conservators have begun restoring King Tutankhamun's burial mask, which was damaged by a botched effort to reattach its beard, NBC News reported. 

The famed pharaoh's 3,300-year-old mask has been removed from public display at Cairo's Egyptian Museum for the restoration. The blue and gold braided beard had been knocked off and that the mask was damaged when the beard was hastily glued back on with epoxy, Egypt's antiquities ministry said in January.

The team working on the restoration told a press conference Tuesday it will take at least a few months before the work is complete.

Restoration specialist Christian Eckmann said the work will be done in two stages — and all decisions on how to proceed must be vetted by a scientific board. 

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