Archaeologists carefully lifted the fragile mummy out of a quartz sarcophagus decorated with stone-carved protective goddesses, momentarily pulling aside a beige covering to reveal a leathery black body.
The linen was then replaced over Tut's narrow body so only his face and tiny feet were exposed, and the body of the 19-year-old king, whose life and death has captivated people for nearly a century, was moved to a simple glass climate-controlled case to keep it from turning to dust.
"I can say for the first time that the mummy is safe and the mummy is well preserved, and at the same time, all the tourists who will enter this tomb will be able to see the face of Tutankhamen for the first time," Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said from inside the hot and sticky tomb.
Hawass said scientists began restoring the badly damaged mummy more than two years ago. Much of the body is broken into 18 pieces -- damage sustained when British archaeologist Howard Carter first discovered it 85 years ago, took it from its tomb and tried to pull off the famous golden mask, Hawass said.
But experts fear a more recent phenomenon -- mass tourism -- is further deteriorating Tut's mummy. Thousands of tourists visit the underground chamber every month, and Hawass said that within 50 years the mummy could dissolve into dust.
"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 Hawass, who wore his signature Indiana Jones-style tan hat.
The mystery surrounding King Tutankhamen -- who ruled during the 18th dynasty and ascended to the throne at age 8 -- and his golden tomb has entranced ancient Egypt fans since Carter first discovered the hidden tomb, revealing a trove of fabulous gold and precious stone treasures.
Archaeologists in recent years have tried to resolve lingering questions over how he died and his precise royal lineage. In 2005, scientists removed Tut's mummy from his tomb and placed it into a portable CT scanner to obtain a three-dimensional image. The scans were the first done on an Egyptian mummy.
The results ruled out that Tut was violently murdered -- but stopped short of definitively concluding how he died around 1323 B.C. Experts, including Hawass, suggested that days before dying, Tut badly broke his left thigh, an apparent accident that may have resulted in a fatal infection.
The CT scan also provided the most revealing insight yet into Tut's life. He was well-fed and healthy, but slight, standing 168 centimeters tall at the time of his death. The scan also showed that he had the overbite characteristic of other kings from his family, large incisor teeth and his lower teeth were slightly misaligned.
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