The Grand Egyptian Museum has opened at last, uniting 7,000 years of Egyptian civilization under one roof and unveiling King Tutankhamun’s full treasure collection for the first time in history.
The long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, built in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of G iza, the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, has finally opened its doors to the public after decades of anticipation, delays, and global curiosity. Located on 120 ac res of desert land overlooking the ancient necropolis, the museum is twice the size of the Louvre Museum in France and is now the world’s largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilization. It is designed to house between 70,000 and 100,000 artifacts, including hundreds of objects from King Tutank hamun’s tomb that have never been displayed before.
Plans for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) were first announced in 2002 with the intention to open in 2012, but the project faced repeated setbacks, from financial constraints to political upheavals, the COVID-19 pandemic, and regional instability. The final cost of the museum is estimated at 1.2 billion dollars, most of it funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has described the GEM as Egypt’s “gift to the world,” a cultural monument intended not only to reflect the scale of Egypt’s ancient influence but also to revive a modern economy struggling under inflation and debt.
“Ancient Egypt fascinates everyone,” says Salima Ikram, a professor at Cairo University and one of the country’s most respected Egyptologists. “The Greeks, Romans, and even the Phoenicians considered Egypt a land of mystery and knowledge.” She believes the museum is not just a global symbol but a national one. “It is going to create a great sense of national pride, and it will bring ancient Egypt more and more into the daily lives and nationalistic narrative of each Egyptian.”
The museum’s opening on November 1, 2025, was declared a public holiday, with around 60 world leaders expected to attend the historic ceremony, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and King Philippe of Belgium. The broadcast was streamed live on TikTok and displayed on public screens across Egypt.
Tutankhamun’s return has been one of the most anticipated elements of the museum. For the first time in history, all 5,000 objects found inside his tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922, including the legendary 24-pound golden funerary mask, will be displayed together in their original burial context. Dr Campbell Price, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum, who visited the museum in advance, said: “It will be spectacular to see all of Tutankhamun’s tomb in one place.” He predicts future tour groups will flood the Tutankhamun wing, leaving the rest of the galleries for serious researchers and history lovers. “The main galleries are equally stunning, with every item given a good space. I was extremely satisfied. It made me emotional.”
Beyond Tutankhamun, one of the most striking features is a colossal statue of King Ramses the Great, more than 3,200 years old, which greets visitors upon entry. The statue once stood in Cairo’s main train station for over fifty years before being moved to its new home in a celebrated night-time procession. The museum also features the 4,600-year-old Khufu ship, believed to be the oldest and best-preserved wooden vessel on earth. Like many other artifacts, it has survived long journeys through time, excavation, restoration, and relocation.
But for famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass, often described as “Egypt’s Indiana Jones,” the museum is more than a spectacular display. For him, it is about reclaiming Egyptian heritage from foreign control. “It is time for us to become scientists of our own monuments,” he says. “There were 64 royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Not a single Egyptian excavated them.” He argues that while Egypt’s treasures shaped Western museums and universities, Egyptians themselves were excluded from writing their own historical narrative.
Dr Abdelghafar Wajdi, Director General of the Luxor Museum of Antiquities, believes the GEM marks a turning point. “Since 2002, the study of Egypt in Egypt has entered a new and dynamic phase. As a sense of ownership grows, Egyptologists and conservators are now leading many major excavations and heritage projects.”
However, the museum’s arrival brings a practical question: can ordinary Egyptians afford it? The adult ticket price for Egyptians is 200 Egyptian pounds, about four US dollars. While significantly lower than the 1,200-pound ticket (about 25 dollars) for international visitors, it is still unaffordable for many Egyptian families. “You can’t just take care of the dead, you have to take care of the living,” Professor Ikram notes. “For some Egyptians, it is difficult to get a ticket to enter.”
The museum is also a research powerhouse, with state-of-the-art conservation laboratories designed to preserve not only the past but the future of archaeological science. For Hawass, this is key. “I am currently excavating in Luxor, in the Valley of the Kings. I am excavating in Saqqara,” he says. “We have only found 30% of our monuments. Still, 70% is under the sand.” The GEM, he says, is not an ending. It is a beginning.
The museum’s opening marks what many experts call a new era in archaeology, where Egypt will shape its own story, retain control of its artifacts, and build a future rooted in its ancient past. For a civilization that built the pyramids, carved colossal kings into stone cliffs, invented the solar calendar, and buried their dead with boats to sail the afterlife, the Grand Egyptian Museum is a return to royal scale. A nation that has lived through empire, revolution, war, occupation, and modern struggle is now telling the world: we remember who we are.
And yet, as breathtaking as the museum is, the desert still holds more. Beneath miles of sand, more tombs, temples, statues, and inscriptions wait. The past has not finished speaking. Egypt has only just begun to dig.
