The Grand Egyptian Museum Is Now Welcoming Visitors Before Its Official Inauguration

After many setbacks, the Grand Egyptian Museum has finally announced that it will open to the public beginning next week. The project started in 2003 and was designed by the Irish company Heneghan Peng Architects, which initially received funding in 2003.

The museum is built on a 500,000-square-meter plot just one mile from the iconic Great Pyramids of Giza. It intends to house a few of civilization’s most priceless treasures. The entryway’s enormous architecture is meant to evoke the country’s long history.

©Lina Shaker

The Grand Egyptian Museum

The Grand Egyptian Museum’s construction was supposed to begin in 2005, but several financial and natural obstacles slowed it down. Due to a drop in tourism and economic stability in Egypt, construction on the building was halted at the beginning of the January revolution in early 2011. Restarting the project in 2014 with the assistance of international loans helped Egypt recover economically from the upheaval of the revolution.

©Heneghan Peng Architects

The Grand Museum’s original public opening date was late 2020. When finished, it will house more than 100,000 artifacts from ancient civilizations and establish a new standard for museum size and scope. A large stone façade, which shifts appearance from daylight to nighttime, and follows three axes, one for each pyramid in the background, characterize the design. The museum’s curriculum is also organized along these axes, creating three distinct areas.

©Heneghan Peng Architects

Currently, the Grand Egyptian Museum offers several guided visits that can be pre-booked on the website, allowing Egyptians and tourists from other countries to check out the facility before it officially opens. Tours of the museum’s Great Hall and Glass Hall and the adjacent conference center, retail space, outdoor gardens, and food plaza will be available to guests. However, until its formal opening, the Grand Egyptian Museum’s interior areas, including the museum exhibitions, are off-limits to the public.

As they arrive, guests pass through a massive court where a statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II stands tall in the middle. After passing through this entryway, you will find yourself in a secondary forecourt, where a grand, partially-shaded stairway leads up to the plateau area. To that end, the galleries at the plateau level feature a permanent display that frames the pyramids in a way that visitors can’t get enough of.

©Lina Shaker

The museum is planned as a cultural complex of activities dedicated to Egyptology, with a children’s museum, conference and education spaces, a massive conservation center, and vast gardens spread across the 50hA site. The permanent exhibition area is 24,000m2, or nearly four football fields. Tutankhamun’s treasures, now on display along with the Solar Boat, now kept at the foot of the Pyramids, are just two examples of the museum’s extensive holdings.

©Heneghan Peng Architects

Chief archaeologist Magdy Shaker recently told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the museum was ready to open but that some outdoor preparations were being completed before the official launch timeline was declared. The Grand Egyptian Museum tours can be scheduled on their official website, where the visitor can select the date, time, and tour options that best suit their interests and budget.

Children under four and visitors with disabilities are admitted free of charge with a valid ID at the museum’s primary ticket sales windows. The Great Egyptian Museum is open from 9 am to 6 pm every day of the year.