Egypt - The golden coffin of Tutankhamun

I received my first card from Egypt yesterday and therefore I already have cards from 60 different countries/territories in my collection :) Just not all of them are on my blog yet, because I'm still late with uploading the cards that I received several years ago :)
By the way, this card travelled from Egypt to Poland in just 3 days, which was really surprising! :)

I love this card, because looking at it I can have no doubt, which country does it come from :) I remember all the lessons about the ancient Egypt at school... That was definitely the most fascinating one of the ancient civilisations we were learning about (though we were learning only about the ones, which were in Europe or very close to Europe, like Egypt) :) I also find the Egyptian hieroglyphs very interesting... I'm generally interested in different writing systems, even if I have no idea how to read them :) Out of the ones that are still in use I especially like the Thai alphabet, it looks like flowers :)
But, let's come back to Egypt :) This card shows the tomb of Tutankhamun, an Egyptian Pharaoh, who ruled between 1333 BC and 1324 BC, so over 3300 years ago.



KV62 is the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings (Egypt) , which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was spared from the worst of the tomb depredations of that time.

The tomb was densely packed with items in great disarray. Carter was able to photograph garlands of flowers, which disintegrated when touched. Due to the state of the tomb, and to Carter's meticulous recording technique, the tomb took nearly a decade to empty, the contents all being transported to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Tutankhamun's tomb had been entered at least twice, not long after he was buried and well before Carter's discovery. The outermost doors of the shrines enclosing the king's nested coffins were left opened, and unsealed. It is estimated that 60% of the jewelry which had been stored in the "Treasury" was removed as well. After one of these ancient robberies, embalming materials from KV62 are believed to have been buried at KV54.