Restoration of the famed golden mask of Tutankhamun is under way in Cairo, over a year after the beard was accidentally knocked off and hastily glued back with epoxy.

A German-Egyptian team of experts showed off the mask in a laboratory in the Egyptian Museum, detailing plans for how the glue will be scraped off and the beard carefully removed before being reattached by a method to be determined by a scientific committee.

Christian Eckmann, the lead restoration specialist, said the work should take a month or two, depending on how long it takes to remove the beard.

The mask is arguably the best-known piece in the museum, one of Cairo's main tourist sites, which was built in 1902 and houses ancient Egyptian artefacts and mummies.

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