An exact replica of Tutankhamun’s famous tomb has been opened in Luxor, Egypt, close to the 3,000-year-old original. The original one has now been closed to visitors in order to preserve it, after decades of tourist visits began to cause damage. <br /><br />James Moran, the Head of the EU Delegation to Egypt, said: “It is absolutely unique. What they have done is to give tourists in the future a chance to visit a perfect, perfect copy of the original tomb. But they have also added things inside to let people understand better who Tutankhamun was, how the tomb was discovered. It’s a little museum as well as being a tomb, and having seen the original myself three or four times, I cannot tell the difference.”<br /><br />The replica is said to be an extremely accurate and sophisticated copy. Making it involved measuring 100 million points in every square metre of the original tomb.<br /><br />Madrid-based company Factum Arte used laser scanners to capture the texture, shape and colours of the tomb, before reproducing it with machine-operated blades, some measuring less than two-tenths of a millimeter in width. <br /><br />The project’s leaders acknowledge that visiting a replica will sound less appealing to many than seeing the real thing, but they hope that the facsimile, which is indiscernible from the original, will give visitors a better understanding of the tomb whilst preserving the original.
