A look inside Egypt’s newly unveiled Grand Egyptian Museum

After 2 decades and an estimated outgo of $1bn, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) opened its doors to the nationalist connected Tuesday, conscionable a fewer days aft the authoritative opening ceremonial connected Saturday.

Regarded arsenic the world’s largest archaeological installation for a azygous civilisation, the depository is located 2km (1.2 miles) from the pyramids of Giza and 8km (5 miles) from the capital, Cairo.

The analyzable spans astir 500,000sq metres (5,381,900sq ft) and volition location much than 100,000 past artefacts from the 30 dynasties of past Egypt.

Some of the main attractions see the 3,200-year-old, 11.36-metre (37ft) statue of King Ramses II, the implicit postulation of Tutankhamun’s treasures and a 4,500-year-old boat, 1 of the oldest intact ships successful the world, belonging to Khufu, the pharaoh renowned for gathering the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The Grand Egyptian Museum’s design

The depository has been called the “fourth pyramid” of the Giza Plateau, which is location to 3 pyramids astir 4,500 years old: the Great Pyramid of Giza (built for Pharaoh Khufu), the Pyramid of Khafre (built for Pharaoh Khafre) and the Pyramid of Menkaure (built for Pharaoh Menkaure).

Visitors tin presumption the pyramids from wrong the museum, which is designed successful the signifier of a chamfered triangle, echoing the geometry of the pyramids. The museum’s northbound and southbound walls are aligned with the Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Menkaure.

The design, created by the Irish architecture steadfast Heneghan Peng, uses sand-coloured factual and translucent alabaster chromatic portion the museum’s main facade is made of frosted solid panels.

The analyzable was announced successful 1992, but operation did not statesman until 2005 and was delayed by governmental turmoil aft the 2011 Arab Spring and the COVID-19 pandemic. Some areas of the depository had a brushed motorboat successful 2024.

The Grand Egyptian Museum, besides known arsenic the Giza Museum, is located conscionable 2km (1.2 miles) from the pyramids of Giza [Getty Images]

The depository analyzable includes the main building, a league centre, a courtyard, a Nile Valley park, the Khufu Boat Museum and a conservation centre.

Exterior presumption of the Grand Egyptian Museum adjacent the Giza pyramid analyzable [File: Getty Images]

A look wrong the museum

Upon entering the museum, visitors are greeted by the 3,200-year-old statue of King Ramses II, which weighs astir 83 tonnes.

From 1954 to 2006, the statue stood successful Ramses Square successful beforehand of Cairo’s main bid presumption earlier being relocated to its caller determination adjacent the museum. To facilitate the move, the statue was transported upright and successful 1 portion connected a specially designed 128-wheel vehicle, covering a region of 30km (19 miles) and necessitating impermanent roadworthy closures.

Beyond the entranceway is the six-storey expansive staircase, lined with astir 60 artefacts, including statues that honour deities, sarcophagi that clasp the deceased, columns showcasing past architectural artistry,, and stelae inscribed with important texts.

Visitors locomotion past past Egyptian statues on the expansive staircase astatine the Grand Egyptian Museum during partial proceedings cognition connected October 15, 2024 [Sayed Hassan/Getty Images]

The depository boasts 12 main imperishable accumulation halls, which opened past twelvemonth and are organised by some epoch (ranging from prehistory done the Greco-Roman period) and taxable (including society, kingship and belief).

The Tutankhamun gallery

Among the museum’s astir salient and largest accumulation spaces is the Tutankhamun Gallery, a 7,500sq-metre (80,000sq-ft) abstraction that features much than 5,000 artefacts unearthed from the tomb of Tutankhamun, the lad king who ascended to the throne astatine astir 9 years aged and ruled during the Eighteenth Dynasty astir 3,400 years ago.

Despite his little reign, which ended with his unexpected decease astatine astir 18 oregon 19 years old, Tutankhamun is 1 of the astir celebrated pharaohs, mostly owed to the find of his astir intact tomb successful 1922 successful the Valley of the Kings connected the westbound broadside of the Nile other the metropolis of Luxor.

Visitors tin spot his aureate mask, throne, sarcophagus, chariots and jewellery, each presented to re-create the ambiance of his royal burial chamber.

One of the world’s largest museums

The Grand Egyptian Museum has astir 45,000sq metres (484,000sq ft) of accumulation space, making it the sixth largest depository successful the satellite by show area.

The Louvre successful Paris tops the database with 72,735sq metres, followed by the State Hermitage Museum successful St Petersburg, Russia (66,842sq metres), the National Museum of China successful Beijing (65,000sq metres), the Metropolitan Museum of Art successful New York City (58,820sq metres) and the Museo del Prado successful Madrid, Spain (47,700sq metres).

Tourism is simply a large root of overseas currency for Egypt. In 2024, a grounds 15.7 cardinal tourists visited Egypt, and the question and tourism assemblage contributed astir 8 percent of the country’s gross home product, according to authoritative figures.

An grounds successful the Grand Egyptian Museum [File: Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu via Getty Images]