Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Egypt and the Getty Conservation Institute have partnered to conserve and manage the tomb of King Tutankhamen.

The five-year project follows concern that the large number of people visiting the pharaoh’s resting place may be causing it harm.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt’s archaeological authority, and the Getty Conservation Institute will work to ensure the tomb’s wall paintings and reliefs don’t fade, the Cairo-based council said in an e-mailed statement. The Getty Conservation Institute is one of the programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

“I always see the tomb of King Tut and wonder about those spots, which no scientist has been able to explain,” Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in the e-mail. “Now I am happy that the Getty will look at the tomb and preserve its beautiful scenes. King Tut has magic that we must conserve for future generations.”

Tutankhamen’s is the smallest of the 26 royal tombs discovered in the Valley of the Kings in Ancient Thebes, a World Heritage site. It was discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter with almost all of its contents intact.

The Supreme Council and Getty will spend at least two years assessing the tomb to come up with a plan for its preservation. The next three years will be spent implementing the plan, the statement said.

Tim Whalen, director of the Getty Conservation Institute, said the Tutankhamen project will “include scientific analysis of the problems afflicting the tomb’s wall paintings, among other efforts, but the ultimate goal with our work with our Egyptian colleagues is to develop a long-term maintenance plan for this tomb that can also serve as a model for preservation of similar sites.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mahmoud Kassem in Cairo at mkassem1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 12:42 EST