This article is from Ancient Egypt issue 152
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The long-delayed official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum finally took place on 1 November, after a decade of announcements and postponements. The lavishly staged opening ceremony featured music and dance, speeches by top officials and cultural figures, and was hosted by the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The GEM, the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilisation, covers an area of 0.5 sq km and houses over 100,000 artefacts. Although some galleries were already open to the public, visitors can now see all 5,398 treasures from the Tomb of Tutankhamun on display together for the first time.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / Image: Tony Field
