"For the first time ever, the mummy of the golden pharaoh will be taken out of its sarcophagus and shown to tourists inside its tomb in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor," Zahi Hawass said.
The mummy will be covered with linen, leaving its face open, and placed in a glass sarcophagus with climate control. Special equipment will also protect it from damage caused by air and humidity.
Recent research has revealed that the current conditions in which the mummy is stored have the potential to badly damage the golden pharaoh. Tutankhamen's mummy is at present resting in its original sarcophagus, covered by a gilded coffin, but humidity caused by the breath of thousands of visitors threatens to destroy it.
He also said that local and foreign Egyptologists plan to begin restoration work on Tutankhamen's tomb, the first time such a project will have been carried out since its discovery in 1922.
Tutankhamen ruled Egypt from 1333 to 1323 B.C. He became pharaoh at the age of 10 and died at 19. His popularity stems from the fact that his Valley of the Kings tomb was discovered almost completely intact by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist.
Mystery has surrounded Tutankhamen ever since. Lord Carnarvon, who supplied Carter with funding, and who was among the first to enter the tomb, died shortly after its discovery from an infected mosquito bite. Following the deaths of other members of Carter's group, newspapers at the time speculated that Carter had unleashed an ancient curse.
The overall number of golden objects in Tutankhamen's tomb exceeded 1.2 metric tons.
