Grand Egyptian museum opens, showcasing Tutankhamun's tomb in full for the primary time

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza – Egypt is formally opening its doorways as a cultural attraction of the trendy age.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), mentioned to be the world's largest archaeological museum, is crammed with roughly 100,000 artifacts protecting nearly seven millennia of the nation's historical past, from the Pre-Dynastic interval to the Greek and Roman eras.

Leading Egyptologists argue that its institution strengthens their demand for the return of key Egyptian antiquities held in different nations – together with the well-known Rosetta Stone displayed within the British Museum.

A spotlight of GEM would be the whole contents of the intact tomb of the kid king Tutankhamun, which will likely be displayed collectively for the primary time since they had been discovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. These embody Tutankhamun's magnificent gold masks, throne and chariot.

“I had to think about how we could show it differently, because since the tomb was discovered in 1922, only about 1,800 of the more than 5,500 total pieces inside the tomb were on display,” says Dr. Tarek Tawfik, president of the International Association of Egyptologists and former head of GEM.

“I came up with the idea of ​​displaying the entire tomb, meaning there's nothing left in storage, nothing left in other museums, and you get the full experience, the way Howard Carter did a hundred years ago.”

The large museum complicated, costing round $1.2 billion (£910 million; 1.1 billion euros), is anticipated to draw 8 million guests a yr, giving an enormous increase to Egypt's tourism hit by regional crises.

“We hope that the Grand Egypt Museum will usher in a new golden age of Egyptology and cultural tourism,” says Ahmed Sedik, a information to the pyramids on the Giza plateau and aspiring Egyptologist.

Apart from the Tutankhamun exhibit and new displays of Khufu's magnificent, 4,500-year-old funerary boat – one of many oldest and best-preserved shipwrecks of the Archaic interval – a lot of the galleries on the web site have been opened to the general public since final yr.

“I have been organizing a lot of visits to the museum, even when it was partially open,” provides Ahmed. “Now it will be at the peak of its glory. When the Tutankhamun collection opens, you can imagine the whole world coming back, because this is an iconic pharaoh, the most famous king of all antiquity.”

“It's an absolute must-see,” says Raul, a Spanish vacationer who’s ready for the total public opening on November 4. “We're just looking forward to going and seeing all the Egyptian artefacts,” says Sam, from London, who’s visiting Egypt. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Another British vacationer says he had beforehand seen the Tutankhamun exhibit on show on the Neoclassical Egyptian Museum in crowded Tahrir Square. “The old museum was quite disorganized, and it was a bit confusing,” she feedback. “Hopefully the Grand Museum will be much easier to get into and I think you'll get even more out of it.”

The new museum is big, protecting 500,000 sq. meters (5.4 m sq ft) – in regards to the dimension of 70 soccer pitches. The exterior is roofed with hieroglyphs and translucent alabaster, lower into triangles with a pyramid-shaped entrance.

GEM showstoppers embody the three,200-year-old, 16-metre-tall suspended obelisk of the mighty pharaoh, Ramesses II, and his 11-metre-high colossal statue. In a fancy operation, this imposing statue was faraway from close to the Cairo railway station in 2006, in preparation for the brand new establishment.

A grand staircase is lined with statues of different historical kings and queens and an enormous window on the higher flooring affords a superbly framed view of the Giza Pyramids.

The museum was first proposed in 1992 throughout the reign of President Hosni Mubarak, and building started in 2005. According to estimates, it now took the identical time because the Great Pyramid to finish.

The mission was impacted by the monetary disaster, the 2011 Arab Spring – which ousted Mubarak and led to years of turmoil – the COVID 19 pandemic and regional wars.

“This was my dream. I'm really happy to see that this museum is finally open!” Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former longtime minister of tourism and antiquities, tells me. The veteran archaeologist says this reveals that Egyptians are on par with international Egyptologists in relation to excavations, conservation of monuments and organizing museums.

Dr. Hawass says, “Now I want two things: number one, museums stop buying stolen artifacts and number two, I need three objects back: the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, the Zodiac from the Louvre and the Statue of Nefertiti from Berlin.”

They have arrange on-line petitions – garnering lots of of hundreds of signatures – demanding all three gadgets be despatched again.

The Rosetta Stone, present in 1799, offers a key to deciphering the hieroglyphs; It was found by the French military and confiscated by the British as struggle booty. A French workforce lower out the Dendera Zodiac, an historical Egyptian celestial map from the Temple of Hathor in Upper Egypt in 1821. Egypt accused German archaeologists of smuggling a colorfully painted statue of Nefertiti, spouse of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, in a foreign country greater than a century in the past.

“We need these three items to come from these three countries as a good spirit, as a gift, just as Egypt has given so many gifts to the world,” says Dr. Hawass.

Another distinguished Egyptologist, Dr. Monica Hanna, labels the identical objects “taken under colonial pretexts” and must be returned. She provides: “The GEM sends the message that Egypt has done its homework very well when it comes to officially soliciting commodities.”

The British Museum advised the BBC that it had not acquired any formal request from the Egyptian authorities for the return or mortgage of the Rosetta Stone.

Egyptologists are expressing their enthusiasm for the brand new museum to grow to be a middle of educational analysis, selling new discoveries.

Already, Egyptian conservators primarily based there have painstakingly restored objects belonging to Tutankhamun, together with his spectacular armor made of material and leather-based. According to Egyptian regulation, such restitution can solely be made by Egyptians.

“Colleagues around the world are amazed by this fantastic conservation work,” says Dr. Tarek Tawfiq, including that the whole mission is a supply of nice nationwide satisfaction. “Along with the history of ancient Egypt, we are also showcasing modern Egypt because it is Egypt that built this museum.”