Egypt unveils the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt is inaugurating on Saturday the Grand Egyptian Museum, two decades in the making, with the aim of drawing more visitors to revitalize the country’s tourist industry.

Located just outside Cairo on the Giza Plateau which also includes the three pyramids and the Sphinx, the museum will be the world’s largest dedicated to a single civilization. It will display over 50,000 artifacts detailing life in ancient Egypt.

World leaders, including monarchs, heads of states and governments, are set to attend the grand opening ceremony, according to the Egyptian presidency which touted the museum as “an exceptional event in the history of human culture and civilization.”

The museum is one of the megaprojects championed by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi since he took office in 2014. He has embarked on massive investments in infrastructure with the aim of reviving an economy weakened by decades of stagnation and battered by the unrest that followed the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Preparations for the grand reveal have been shrouded in secrecy. The museum, which was opened for limited visits in recent years, has been closed for the past two weeks.

The government has revamped the areas around the museum and the nearby Giza Pyramids. Roads were paved and a metro station is being constructed outside the museum gates to improve access. An airport, Sphinx International Airport, has also opened west of Cairo — 40 minutes from the museum.

The $1 billion facility had faced multiple delays, with construction beginning in 2005 but interrupted due to political instability.

The museum, known as GEM, boasts a towering, triangular glass façade imitating the nearby pyramids, with 24,000 square meters (258,000 square feet) of permanent exhibition space.

From the atrium, a grand six-story staircase lined with ancient statues leads up to the main galleries and a view of the nearby pyramids. A bridge links the museum to the pyramids, allowing tourists to move between them either on foot or via electric vehicles, according to museum officials.

The museum’s 12 main galleries, which opened last year, exhibit antiquities spanning from prehistoric times to the Roman era, organized by era and by themes.

Two halls are dedicated to the 5,000 artifacts from the collection of King Tutankhamun, which will be displayed in its entirely for the first time since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb in 1922 in the southern city of Luxor.

Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s most renowned archaeologist and former minister of antiquities, said the collection of Tutankhamun is the masterpiece of the museum.

“Why this museum is so important, and everyone is waiting for the opening?” he told The Associated Press. “Because of Tutankhamun.”

The collection includes the boy pharaoh’s three funeral beds and six chariots, his golden throne, his gold-covered sarcophagus and his burial mask, made of gold, quartzite, lapis lazuli and colored glass.

The government’s aim is that the museum will draw more tourists who will stay for a while and provide the foreign currency Egypt needs to shore up its battered economy.

The tourism sector has suffered during years of political turmoil and violence following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. In recent years, the sector has started to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine — both countries are major sources of tourists visiting Egypt.

A record number of about 15.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2024, contributing about 8% of the country’s GDP, according to official figures. The government aims to attract 30 million visitors annually by 2032.

The museum will be open to the public starting Tuesday, authorities said.