Egypt’s billion-dollar museum links past and future with over 100,000 artefacts. Photo / Rishika Sharma
Covering an area of 70 soccer fields, the Grand Egyptian Museum is the world’s largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilisation. Rishika Sharma shares what it’s like inside.
On my last visit to Egypt, you could drive right up to the Great Pyramid. Today, a hop-on/hop-off bus loops around a newly built visitor centre. You can even get a frappé to-go to cool you from the desert sun as you wind through the Giza Plateau. This is not the Egypt that I visited 20 years ago.
Although change is inevitable, it does feel at odds with a country often romanticised as being frozen in time. That sense of transformation comes to a head at The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which I previewed before its official opening this July 3. Two decades in the making, GEM has revitalised an unremarkable suburb on the fringe of the iconic pyramids, which will be connected to the museum via bridge, into a gleaming discovery centre for budding Egyptologists. As it polishes up before its grand reveal, I went to see what it’s like inside a billion-dollar institute, set to become the world’s largest archaeological museum and projected to draw in upwards of five million travellers.
My immediate impression is that the building itself is a spectacular architectural art piece. Its facade is unmistakably Egyptian, studded with tiny gold pyramids on the exterior, while a thick black alabaster ribbon winds its way inside, marked with hieroglyphics that seem to glow from within. As you enter, eyes meet a towering marble figure of Ramses II. One leg marching forward and fists clenched at his sides, the colossal statue stands as a symbol of the grandeur held within these walls.
GEM will hold more than 100,000 artefacts across 12 galleries when fully open, spanning 5000 years of history across the prehistoric period to the Greco-Roman from the perspective of three thematic pillars; “society”, “kingship”, and “beliefs”. Though a thoughtful framework to offer structure to what could otherwise become overwhelming, given GEM’s sheer enormity, which could fit around 70 football fields, I can’t help but feel these distinct eras and routes begin to fuse. For those navigating independently, I recommend booking one of the museum’s 90-minute tours, available in Arabic or English, to help combat museum fatigue. Or alternatively, organise a tour with one of the country’s independent Egyptologist guides. I toured with one such local, Besho, who possessed the ability to move me beyond the surface beauty of the objects and immersed me in the rich surroundings with detailed context and mythological stories.
He highlighted that what GEM does really well is home in on interesting details to elevate the experience for visitors. For example, the aforementioned statue of Ramses II has been carefully positioned in the Great Hall to allow penetrating beams of sunlight to illuminate his face twice a year, once on his birthday and the other on his coronation day, just like at his temple at Abu Simbel. Another stellar example of GEM’s poetic curation is how the statue of the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, has been presented on the Grand Staircase. Kneeling in a traditional kingly pose, clad in the ‘Nemes’ headdress and false beard, her statue conveys her role as a humble but firm guardian. Defiantly, she inches above the statue of her stepson, pharaoh Thutmose III, a famed war-hero, who spent much of his reign attempting to erase her from history. From her final resting place she looks down on him, celebrating her posthumous triumph.
The most alluring aspect in GEM however, is still being finalised. Built to honour the Boy King, Tutankhamun, a sacred space acting as a modern burial temple within the museum will recreate the feeling of entering his tomb for visitors. Momentously, his full funerary assemblage of over 5000 treasures, including 2000 that have never been seen before, will be reunited for the time since their discovery over a century ago (though a small number of items will remain in the Valley of the Kings, including his mummy and sarcophagus). Most will recognise the iconic gold-and-lapis mask but there will also be a magnitude of treasures from his daily life, and some that were never intended to be seen by the likes of you and me, as they serve purpose solely for his afterlife. Such trinkets include an ancient chess-type board game, exquisite jewellery, weapons and musical instruments. Besho clarified that, it isn’t because he was the only pharaoh with such an impressive hoard of valuables which makes them significant, it’s their rarity. Most royal treasures have been looted by ancient tomb robbers or are still lost to history.
He also explained how GEM isn’t just a place to encase age-old relics; it’s intended to take on a semi-cultural ambassadorship inviting all who enter to connect with its heirlooms as a tool to future-proof tourism through continued interest in Egypt’s past. It achieves this in multiple ways. Most noticeably, the prominence given to inclusivity within the design. Braille appears throughout and interactive displays allow for more tactile and visual engagement, as well as the use of moving walkways, wheelchair availability, and elevators in the museum.
A second facet of this is an internal research centre which supports the ongoing excavations throughout the country and restoring repatriated antiquities, such as a 3400-year-old statue head of King Ramses II recovered from Europe in 2024.
Third is a dedicated children’s museum which offers VR experiences, interactive exhibits and guided tours to spark curiosity in young minds.
At the end of the tour, we ascended the Grand Staircase, flanked by alabaster statues of dynastic rulers and sphinxes in pinkish-brown and night-sky hues. At the top, a platform framed a striking view of the pyramids. I reflected. If the pyramids epitomise what Egypt once was, then the Grand Egyptian Museum forecasts where it’s headed. Egyptian history has captured global interest for thousands of years, and its future looks just as captivating, if this preview is anything to go by. I, for one, can’t wait to return.
The GEM Complex is open 8.30am–7pm apart from Saturday and Wednesday, when it’s open till 10pm.
visit-gem.com
GEM has ramps, moving walkways, elevators and wheelchairs as well as Braille signage throughout alongside visual aids.