ACCESS to the world famous tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt may be closing but there will be no break at an attraction celebrating the site in Dorchester.

Egyptian authorities have taken the decision to close the tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings to the public for restoration, with no scheduled date for reopening.

At the same time Tutankhamun’s famous funerary mask is being taken off display in the Archaeological Museum in Cairo to undergo restoration work.

The team at the Tutankhamun Exhibition in Dorchester say this had led to the attraction taking on even greater significance, as a unique place where visitors can experience the wonders of Tutankhamun’s tomb and treasures without leaving the country.

Tim Batty, from the exhibition, said: "Now is a particularly auspicious time to visit the Tutankhamun Exhibition, in Dorchester.

"It is the beginning of the traditional archaeological ‘season’ in Egypt, where 93 years ago Howard Carter resumed his search for Tutankhamun’s tomb."

Within a matter of days of resuming this search, on November 4, 1922, Carter found the first step of the entrance of a tomb.

By the end of that month Carter had established that it actually was the lost tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun and, unlike many other tombs, it had lain largely undisturbed and not been pilfered by tomb robbers.

The find was hailed as one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th Century.

The Tutankhamun Exhibition accurately recreates Cater's discovery, complete with a reconstruction of the moment of break in.

The Exhibition features some recreations of Tutankhamun’s greatest treasures, including the gold funerary mask, the harpooner and Anubis.

An exact anatomical recreation of Tutankhamun’s mummy is also featured, which took more than two years of research and experimentation to recreate.