The Grand Egyptian Museum has finally made its debut—103 years after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, 33 years after the plan was first announced, and 23 years after its foundation stone was laid. The $1 billion mega-project is the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization, housing over 100,000 artifacts.
The dazzling inauguration ceremony held on Saturday evening was attended by royals, presidents, prime ministers, and high-level delegations from dozens of countries around the world, including the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Japan.
The outdoor celebration unfolded on a custom-built stage beside the museum’s 110-ton hanging obelisk, just over a mile from the Pyramids of Giza. A spectacular laser and fireworks display illuminated the ancient monuments, reflecting the vision to make the museum, known as the GEM, a “fourth pyramid” in its own right.
Fireworks light up the inauguration ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum
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The show was not just about marking the museum’s opening, but celebrating Egyptian civilization, promoting Egypt’s cultural treasures, and sending a harmonious message to the world. In his address, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi declared: “Peace is the only path to building civilizations, knowledge flourishes only in an atmosphere of security and stability, and culture bears fruit only when nurtured in an environment of coexistence and understanding.”
Above the pyramids, a flyover of ultralight planes carried banners reading: “welcome to the land of peace”. Two orchestras performed—one at the Grand Egyptian Museum and another at the foot of the Great Sphinx. An original musical score titled Message for Peace by Moon Knight composer Hisham Nazih was performed by instrumentalists and vocalists from around 80 countries, conducted by maestro Nayer Nagui.
Projected on a big screen, dancers in flowing Egyptian-inspired costumes appeared from cities around the world—Tokyo, Paris, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, and New York—nodding to Egypt’s cultural reach. As the GEM and pyramids lit up, so did other historic landmarks around the country, including the Hatshepsut Temple, Luxor Temple, Philae Temple, and Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt; and St. George Church, Saladin Citadel ,and Al Muizz Street in Cairo.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and attending world leaders toured the museum during the inauguration
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The event was also an opportunity to highlight Egyptian talent, with performances from operatic soprano Fatma Said (who also performed at the GEM’s first concert in January 2023) and violin duo Amira and Mariam Abouzahra, alongside traditional whirling dervishes and a Nubian singer.
A narrative throughline on the screen depicted a young boy walking through the museum and offered viewers a preview of the treasures inside, culminating with the Khufu solar boats and Tutankhamun collection, which will be fully revealed to the public for the first time from Tuesday, November 4. After the ceremony, world leaders, dignitaries, and VIP guests were offered private tours of the museum.
Covering an area of 5 million square feet, the Grand Egyptian Museum includes the hanging obelisk plaza; main atrium with an 36-foot-high, 83-ton, 3,200-year-old Ramses II statue; grand staircase lined with dozens of colossal statues; 12 main galleries spanning prehistoric times to the Graeco-Roman period; Children’s Museum; Tutankhamun Gallery; Solar Boats Museum; the Middle East’s largest restoration centre; exhibition halls; and conference spaces.
“The museum is phenomenal because of the variety, quality and number of objects,” Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, said.
Plans for the museum were first announced in 1992 under President Hosni Mubarak, who laid the foundation stone a decade later. Construction began in 2005, but political upheaval, economic challenges and global events—from the 2011 revolution to the Covid-19 pandemic and regional conflicts—repeatedly delayed completion. The Japan International Cooperation Agency provided the largest share of funding, with two loans totaling $800 million.
Parts of the Grand Egyptian Museum opened to the public in November 2022, starting with the main atrium and retail area. In October 2024, the main galleries opened, leaving only the prized Tutankhamun collection and the Khufu solar boats concealed until the official inauguration.
“Certainly this museum has been a long time in the making,” Ikram said. “In fact, almost my entire professional career, it’s been happening. So it’s an extraordinary moment in history.”
Light shows illuminated the skies above the museum
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Among the most anticipated sections is the Tutankhamun Gallery, where, for the first time since British archaeologist Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery in Luxor, the collection of more than 5,900 artifacts is displayed in its entirety. Many of the items—such as the boy king’s golden mask, chariot and throne—had been on display at the century-old Egyptian Museum in Downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square. They were transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum in recent weeks, confirmed Aly Abdelhalim, general director of the Egyptian Museum.
The first 4,600-year-old boat of King Khufu, the Pharaoh who commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, had been on display in a museum near the site and was carefully transported to the GEM in 2021. The second Khufu boat, also discovered in a burial pit, was moved in pieces over several years and completely reassembled and restored.
The Grand Egyptian Museum is designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, which was awarded the project in 2003, after beating out more than 1,500 entries from 82 countries in the world’s largest architectural competition. The façade—made of limestone, glass and metal – has a recurring triangular motif. It mirrors the three pyramids, aligning directly with their positioning, while the interior roof slopes upward to meet the highest point of the pyramids.
Already, more than two million visitors have stepped through the doors of the Grand Egyptian Museum. That number is expected to soar to five million annually after the official opening. Egypt welcomed a record 15.7 million tourists in 2024, and the GEM is poised to anchor the country’s goal of drawing 30 million visitors by 2030.
The Grand Egyptian Museum will fully open to the public on Tuesday, November 4. Tickets can be booked online in advance. A version of this story originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller Middle East.
