Known as the GEM for short, the Grand Egyptian Museum will be opening its doors soon at the foot of the Giza pyramids near Cairo. Inside, visitors will be able to get a close-up look at more than 100,000 pieces, including every single item from Tutankhamun's treasure.
Twenty-two years of work and one billion euros for the Grand Egyptian Museum
.
The winning bid was submitted, outpacing over 1500 other proposals. Work commenced promptly, but was repeatedly halted, most notably during the 2011 uprising and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommended by the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the construction work is nearing completion, and the building is due to be delivered soon. It is intended to be a monument that even the pharaohs themselves would be proud of: the overall cost is estimated at over one billion euros, more than double the initial budget.
The Great Egyptian Museum is set to open its doors in the summer of 2025, marking the end of a decade-long wait.
The long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo has faced over a decade of challenges that have pushed its completion date far beyond the originally set 2015 deadline. However, it's finally time to celebrate: after a series of partial openings over the past three years, the museum will officially open its doors in full on July 3, 2025. The grand opening will feature the unveiling of the museum's most impressive spaces, including those dedicated to Tutankhamun, which will showcase treasures never before displayed, offering a captivating glimpse into the life of the young pharaoh. Ahmed Ghoneim, the museum's director, promises a spectacular inauguration event that will last several days, bringing the long-awaited museum to its rightful place as a must-see destination in Egypt's rich cultural heritage.
The world's leading museum of Egyptology
The artifact has been relocated from Cairo, where it stood near the train station in a square. Look up, and you'll see the grand staircase featuring 60 statues, leading up to a spacious glass lobby. From there, an unparalleled view of the three Giza pyramids, the tombs of Pharaohs Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura, unfolds.
The entire collection of Tutankhamun's treasure will be showcased for the first time ever.
For the very first time, around 5,000 objects discovered in November 1922 by Howard Carter in Luxor's Valley of the Kings are being showcased. Golden masks, sarcophagi, golden beds, and chariots, along with mother-of-pearl jewelry embedded with precious stones: all the treasures of the young king, untouched for 3,000 years, will be on display behind the exhibition cases in the spacious gallery.
.
Relaunching Egyptian tourism
Half of the collections in the Grand Egyptian Museum will be on permanent display. The other half will be stored in a vault where it will be restored and studied on-site within a large research center featuring 17 state-of-the-art restoration facilities.
Beyond its function as a museum, the GEM is also intended to become a comprehensive cultural and tourist hub. The building will house shops, restaurants, a conference center, and a cinema. The goal is to revitalize Egyptian tourism, a vital component of the country's economy that has yet to fully recover from the political turmoil of 2011. The new museum is expected to draw six million visitors annually, who will be able to visit the museum and the Giza pyramids with a single ticket.
The Grand Egyptian Museum is scheduled to open in 2023.
The release date has been postponed to 2023.
The GEM opened in March 2023 the online ticketing service for booking limited guided tours, to explore the Grand Hall, the Glass Court, the commercial area, and exterior gardens.
.