HUNDREDS of visitors are expected to flock to Bolton Museum this weekend for a long-awaited glimpse of the showpiece Amarna Princess statuette.

The ancient Egyptian sculpture, which is being exhibited in the town for the first time, is set to take pride of place in the museum when it goes on show on Saturday.

The ancient Egyptian sculpture, which was bought by Bolton Council for £440,000, will be the jewel in the crown of the museum's famed Egyptology section.

It is hoped that the arrival will rekindle interest in the extensive collection on show at the Le Mans Crescent building. Carved in translucent Egyptian alabaster, it is thought that the figure symbolizes the step sister of Tutankhamun, one of the daughters of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his chief queen Nefertiti.

The exhibit, which has just returned from a display at the prestigious Hayward Gallery in London, is believed to be around 3,300 years old.

The 20ins high sculpture, one of only three of its kind in the world, was bought in October after it was discovered among the collection of an elderly local man. Although its head, arms and lower legs have not survived, experts say that the statuette is the most impressive example of its kind in the world.

Bolton's example stands at eight-and-a-half inches higher than the only other comparable statuettes, one in the Louvre in Paris and the other in Philadelphia.

Curator of the Egyptology section at the museum Angela Thomas said: "Hopefully we will have a lot of people coming to see it.

"I think people who come in regularly will certainly come to have look at it."

Ms Thomas added: "It may even be the case that this will lead on to us getting further funds to do more with the Egyptology section."

The statuette will join other items of the same era including painted pavement, small sculptures and reliefs, domestic items, pottery, textiles, decorative inlays and finds from the temples, houses and workmen's village.

And it will go on display from Saturday, and will appear at the museum under new security measures following the theft of three valuable Japanese carvings in a daring daylight raid last week.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "We are constantly reviewing security. It's an ongoing process."

Thieves unscrewed a glass cabinet to steal the small figures, worth an estimated £6,000, which were returned by a mystery member of the public the next day.

A note accompanying the carvings apologised for the theft, explaining the incident as a "security test."

A Bolton