“He is trying some mechanical ways to clean these pieces,” explains Mostafa, assistant to the general director of the museum.
Islam Mostafa points to the expert working on the piece of papyrus. Nearby, another painstakingly pieces together a set of sandals-nearly ruined, but believed to have been worn by King Tutankhamun-that now resemble something of a jigsaw puzzle, pieces of black material scattered within the golden filigree that binds each shoe together. In the conservation center for the Grand Egyptian Museum, a man hunches over an ancient piece of papyrus, patiently cleaning each fiber in an attempt to restore it to some semblance of its former glory. Golden figures in the Grand Egyptian Museum conservation room.
