The treasure trove of golden treasures and antiquities describing life in ancient Egypt will be publicly displayed at the new museum to break records in Cairo.
The Grand Egyptian Museum will become the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilisation and holding 50,000 artefacts, as it is situated in the shade of the pyramids.
The world leaders and heads of state, including the monarchs, will be present at the grand opening ceremony; the Egyptian presidency already promotes it as a unique event in the history of human culture and civilisation.
Secrecy has surrounded the finalization of the preparations for the grand opening of the billion-dollar museum, but patrons will not be waiting long to get a glimpse of the legendary treasures of the shining tomb of boy-king Tutankhamun.
The museum has been closed for the last two weeks, and has been open to limited visits in the last couple of years.
What does the Grand Egyptian Museum have?
The guests will enter a towering glass front, which reflects the surrounding pyramids to lead to the atrium and the 24,000 square meters (258,000 square feet) of permanent exhibition area beyond.
Thence, an enormous staircase, down which ancient statues run, brings to the main galleries and a prospect of the adjacent pyramids.
The 12 major galleries that the museum has allow the artefacts that date back to the prehistoric era, all the way to the Roman age.
The two halls are devoted to the 5,000 items in the collection of King Tutankhamun that will be the first to be on display as a whole since its discovery in 1922 by a British archaeologist called Howard Carter in the southern city of Luxor.
According to Zahi Hawass, the most famous of all the archaeologists in Egypt and the former minister of antiquities, the masterpiece of the museum is the collection of Tutankhamun.
“Why is this museum so important, and why is everybody waiting to open it?” He said. “Because of Tutankhamun.”
Hope for tourism boost
The Egyptian government hopes that through the museum, it will attract more tourists, and the foreign currency they can bring with them.
The tourism industry has been hit in the years of political instability and violence after the Arab Spring rebellion in 2011.
Over the last few years, the industry has begun to rebound due to the coronavirus and the impact of the war in Ukraine – the two countries are significant contributors to the number of tourists visiting Egypt.
The government is optimistic that by 2032, the number of tourists visiting the country will nearly double the 15.7 million tourists who came into the country in 2024.
It has opened to the public from 4th November.
