ITS past may be shrouded by mystery and time - but at least the future of a 2,000-year-old relic from ancient Egypt has finally been assured for good.

A mask that two millennia ago adorned the head of an Egyptian mummy has been painstakingly conserved by a team of experts.

Tomorrow, it will go on show at the Royal Pump Room Museum, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, giving the public their first chance to see it in its full glory.

The mask is originally thought to have come from Thebes or Akhimin, and is believed to date from some time between 50BC and 50AD.

It arrived at the museum as part of a bequest from businessman James Ogden, more than 70 years ago, and for most of the time since then has been in storage.

Little is known about its history, or the mummy it once belonged to, although the conservation work - cleaning and consolidating - has revealed much more about the object itself.

A fantastic range of colours has been revealed, while the startling beauty of the gilded face - once used to identify the deceased with the sun god - has been highlighted.

The mask is made from cartonnage - a sort of ancient papier-mache, made up of layers if linen and papyrus, stiffened with plaster.

It would have been held in place on the mummy with bandages, and original marks of them can still be seen on the mask, along with fragments of leaf, possibly the remains of a wreath.

The head of Harrogate Museums and Arts, Mary Kershaw, said the results of the £1,000 conservation work had left staff delighted.

"Even old photographs don't indicate how beautiful this mask is," she said.

"Specialist modern techniques have enabled us to see the mask almost as it would have appeared to the Egyptians who made it. It really brings us closer to that ancient culture."

James Ogden, who was a jeweller in the town, helped to build the museum's collection in 1930 when he left it many items of antiquity, local history and fine art.

However, the story behind the mask, and how it ended up in his hands, is not known - and the mystery is likely to continue.