“Where Is King Tut?” Under Restoration

In high school, I along with an avid TPOL reader were part of a nerdy class section called Honors Humanities. Besides the torment of being labeled nerds, a title I embrace only in regards to points, we had to do quarterly projects for old school teachers who didn’t let students get away with anything. How far the education system has fallen.

Anyhow, the project which included presentations had to be fifteen minutes long. If that wasn’t stressful enough on its own, the transcript for the presentation had to be typed out and a fellow classmate would track our progress and make note if we made any mistakes. Now that’s precision.

My first project was on Egypt. I constructed a pyramid and wrapped ‘my little Chuckie’ with toilet paper to represent King Tut. I promise you it was better than I’m describing or at least I thought it was at the time.

Since doing research on King Tut (without the aid of Google) for that project (which I received an A+ on), I’ve always wanted to see King Tut’s mask. Fifteen years + two harrowing trips in Cairo traffic, I made it to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

Well, guess what. King Tut’s mask is not on display. It is under restoration. Why? Because some genius broke the beard of the mask last January then as I would do if I were a child tried to glue it back together. Surely an artifact that’s over 3000 years old should be handled and repaired with better care. It’s not like it’s a toilet paper Chuckie doll.

Now I’m on the way back to the airport, disappointed that I didn’t get to see the king and complete the circle. Simultaneously, given the surprises of this trip, I’m hardly surprised.