Egyptian president Sisi to inaugurate new mega-museum

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Egypt will inaugurate its Grand Egyptian Museum at a lavish ceremony hosted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, officially opening the $1.2bn project it hopes will help attract millions of tourists to the country.

The vast GEM, which sits on the Pyramids plateau in Giza, is touted as the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilisation.

Though much of it has already been opened, authorities will unveil on Saturday the centrepiece: the much-anticipated Tutankhamun galleries, displaying for the first time the entire collection of artefacts found in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king who lived more than 3,000 years ago.

The formal inauguration, postponed from July because of wars in the region, will be attended by what officials say will be some 40 heads of state, and will include an ancient Egyptian-themed spectacle.

Similar celebrations of Egypt’s pharaonic heritage have been held under Sisi with the aim of shoring up tourism and burnishing the image of the country and its leader.

Sherif Fathi, Egypt’s tourism minister, has said he expects 5mn people to visit the GEM annually after its full opening.

Tourism is a main foreign currency earner and crucial for the economy of heavily indebted Egypt. Some 15.7mn tourists visited the country in 2024 and officials have said arrivals were on track to approach 18mn this year.

The Tutankhamun treasures are expected to be the biggest draw at the GEM, which houses tens of thousands of ancient Egyptian artefacts covering periods from prehistoric times until the end of the Roman era.

Since the discovery of his intact tomb in Luxor by Howard Carter in 1922, “the boy king” Tutankhamun has captured imaginations around the world, though little is known about his short reign of nine years and his mysterious death at 18.

Tutankhamun is believed to be a son of Akhenaten, the ancient Egyptian king who led a religious revolution introducing the worship of a single god, the sun disc Aten — an unpopular change that was reversed after his death.

The collection of 5,600 objects showcased at the GEM include pieces such as the king’s gold death mask, his gilded chariot, an intricately decorated throne and his jewellery.

“In the past, we just exhibited the most attractive pieces,” said Tarek Tawfik, a professor of Egyptology who was a former director-general at the GEM while it was still under construction. “What’s new here is that it will be a full experience allowing the visitor to understand the context which gave rise to the objects.”

The artefacts on display will cover themes such as the daily life of the king and his court, his royal descent and the concepts of rebirth and the afterlife, which were key to the belief system of the ancient Egyptians. There is also a section highlighting the story of the discovery of the tomb.

“The visitor will feel he is getting close to the king,” said Tawfik, who added that he developed the concept for the galleries.

Restorers had worked for years in the museum’s laboratory to clean and conserve the king’s relics in preparation for display, said Tawfik. They have restrung colourful beaded collars, restored gilded furniture and salvaged textiles and leather sandals worn by the king that had been left in store rooms for decades.

“The funerary items in the Tutankhamun halls are arranged in a way that they replicate the actual funeral procession of the king as if you are really attending it,” Tawfik said.