Walking into the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), one of the first things you’ll see is a 36-foot-tall, 82-ton granite statue of Ramesses II, a mighty Egyptian pharaoh who ruled more than 3,300 years ago. He’s been standing sentry at the site since 2006, having been one of the first artifacts brought to the then-construction site. However, it was not until recently that travelers could see him and the more than 100,000 other ancient treasures held within the new menagerie of Egyptian history spanning five millennia.
Covering an area of more than 5 million square feet, GEM, an archaeological museum touted as the world’s largest focusing on a single civilization, has been offering visitors a sneak peek of 12 exhibits ahead of its planned July 3, 2025, grand opening. Since last fall, the museum has been in a soft opening phase “to test the site’s readiness and visitor experience prior to the official opening,” according to the official museum and ticketing website.
“During this phase, you will be able to visit the main exhibition halls, the Grand Atrium, the Grand Staircase, the commercial area, and the outdoor gardens. The King Tutankhamun Halls will remain closed until the official opening,” the site advises. The GEM’s galleries are currently open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and the museum will close briefly on June 15 to wrap up the final preparations for the grand opening.
Delayed by political uprisings, financial instability, a pandemic, and nearby wars, the museum will finally open . . . 20 years after construction began.
Fronted by an alabaster and glass facade decorated with hundreds of cartouches, ovals that encircle Egyptian hieroglyphs with the names of kings and queens, the new museum isn’t meant to replace the Egyptian Museum, a two-floor institution in downtown Cairo that first opened in 1902, but rather to give the country’s many tens of thousands of archaeological finds more breathing room.
“Over the years, artifacts started piling up in the basement, in the attic, in storage rooms, and it became too much,” said Marwa Abbas, an Egyptologist who currently works with AmaWaterways, a cruise company that operates sailings on the Nile, with pre-departure tours in Cairo. “It was decided that a new museum would open to house new excavations and allow curators to better organize findings by theme, creating better understanding.”
In the coming weeks, the more than 5,000 objects that have been discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun (better known as King Tut) will move from the Egyptian Museum to two massive exhibit halls at the GEM. The artifacts will include the boy king’s throne, royal jewelry, two golden sarcophagi, his iconic gold funerary mask (made with nearly 25 pounds of solid gold and considered to be one of the foremost pieces of Egyptian art), and many pieces that have never before been displayed. Though Tut ruled for only a short time, this tomb was well concealed and, unlike most others, wasn’t raided. When it was rediscovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter, it offered scholars rare insight into ancient Egyptian culture and traditions.
Beyond Tut’s trove, a separate annex that will display two royal boats discovered near the Great Pyramid in 1954 will open for viewing following the grand opening.
From the central atrium, where Ramesses II stands, is a grand staircase dotted with dozens of statues of some of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, leading to a landing where guests are greeted with an unobstructed view of the 4,600-year-old Pyramids of Giza, a little more than a mile away; eventually, the plan is to develop a walkway between the two.
Then, it’s onward to the galleries, arranged by three pillars: society, kingship, and beliefs, which are further divided into four periods: the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, and the Greco-Roman period. They’re arranged to allow visitors to take a thematic or chronological tour if they so choose. Among the exhibits are thousands of years’ worth of old manuscripts written on paper made of papyrus, mythology carved into stone pieces, ceremonial tools and jewelry, a 3,100-year-old wig made from real human hair, a replica of the Rosetta stone, royal mummies (including a mummified crocodile), and so much more. Concise and well-lit explanation placards are offered for each piece or collection of objects in Arabic, English, and Braille.
The pyramid motif is repeated throughout, from the cut of the window panes to the shape of the stones in a water feature situated between the security area and the main building outside. Beyond the exhibits are a food hall and multiple gift shops selling a range of mementos.
Tickets are available online or at the on-site ticket booth (where only credit cards are accepted) for 1,200 Egyptian pounds (about $24, based on current conversion rates) for adults, half that price for children and students ages 4 to 21, and free for children under 4. Guests can also purchase optional 90-minute guided tours, offered in English or Arabic, for 1,700 Egyptian pounds (roughly $34).
