The face of King Tut was to be exposed in public for the first time - 85 years after the 3,000-year-old boy pharaoh's golden enshrined tomb and mummy were discovered in Luxor's Valley of the Kings.
Archaeologists removed the mummy from his stone sarcophagus, pulling aside a white linen cover to reveal a shriveled leathery black face and body. The mummy of the 19-year-old pharaoh, whose life and death has captivated people for nearly a century, was placed in a climate-controlled glass box in the tomb, with only the face and feet showing under the linen covering.
"The golden boy has magic and mystery and therefore every person all over the world will see what Egypt is doing to preserve the golden boy, and all of them I am sure will come to see the golden boy," said Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawas. But Hawas said he fears a more recent phenomenon - mass tourism - is further deteriorating Tut's mummy. Thousands of tourists visit the underground chamber every month.
"The humidity and heat caused by people entering the tomb, and their breathing will change the mummy to a powder. The only good thing left in this mummy is the face. We need to preserve the face," said Hawas.
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.