Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

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For the first time in 30 years the Tutankhamen exhibition returns to London this week and in honour of its imminent arrival the capital has turned a number of its famous landmarks gold.

The Tower of London, Wellington Arch, The London Eye and The O2 will be illuminated in gold for one week to herald the return of Tutankhamun's treasures to the UK for the first time since 1972, when they attracted more than 1.6 million visitors and set travelling exhibition attendance records.

The face of the linen-wrapped mummy of King Tut is seen in his new glass case in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

The Tutankhamun and Golden Age of Pharaohs exhibition opens to the public at the O2 in Greenwich on November 15.

Visitors to Egypt's Valley of the Kings have for the first time had the chance to view King Tutankhamun's face.

Tutankhamun died more than 3,000 years ago, and is the only pharaoh whose tomb was not stripped by looters in ancient times.

An archaeological worker looks across at the face of the linen-wrapped mummy of King Tut as he is removed from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb near the modern town of Luxor in 1922.

Until Sunday, the boy pharoah's mummified body had rested in a gilded coffin inside the stone sarcophagus inside the tomb - but it has now been moved to a climate controlled glass showcase.

Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian government's chief archaeologist, insists the sole reason for the move is the damage that was being caused by humidity created by the breath of the thousands of visitors who pass through the tomb every day.

Egypt's antiquities chief Dr Zahi Hawass, 3rd left, supervises the removal of the lid of the sarcophagus of King Tut.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

"We are not displaying it to public. We are preserving the mummy and because we are preserving the mummy the public are free to see it," Hawass told reporters.

"Today we are preserving the most important and famous king in Egypt - the Golden King Tutankhamun.

"It's a very important moment for every archaeologist all over the world," Hawass said.

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.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

The sarcophagus of King Tut is seen in his underground tomb.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

Egypt's antiquities chief Dr. Zahi Hawass, centre, supervises the removal of the mummy of King Tut from his stone sarcophagus.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2

Egypt's antiquities chief Dr. Zahi Hawass, centre, keeps a watchful eye over the removal of the linen-wrapped mummy of King Tut from his stone sarcophagus.

Tutankhamen Exhibition Returns To London This Week At The O2