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Egypt opened a series of galleries to the public yesterday in its flagship new museum, but the glittering King Tutankhamun collection and solar boats buried by the Pyramid of Khufu are yet to be unnveiled, pending a long-delayed grand inauguration.
More than 20 years under construction, the sprawling Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) next to the pyramids of Giza was initially scheduled to open in 2012 but the launch was repeatedly pushed back due to cost overruns and political tumult.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly last week announced a ‘trial opening’ ahead of a formal inauguration. Egyptian officials say a number of world leaders have expressed interest in attending the official opening but have not indicated when this will take place.
The museum’s main entrance hall with its stairway of Pharaonic statues and an annex for commercial shopping opened to the public in February 2023.
Ali Abu Al Shish, a member of the Egyptian Archaeologists Union who attended yesterday’s opening of almost a dozen galleries, said the trial operation of the vast museum was evidence Egypt now had the space to exhibit its antiquities, including those being returned by Western states and museums.
It’s an “important message that we can recover our antiquities, which are spread across various countries in the world,” he said.
Visiting Russian tourist Kseniia Muse said, “We are so happy to be here, to have visited these beautiful sculptures... It is very modern and at the same time you can touch the ancient.”
Tourism is an important source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The government has been trying to increase tourist numbers after facing a long-running foreign currency shortage that was exacerbated by external shocks.
Until now, Egypt’s most famous collections have been housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which has been largely unmodernised and unrenovated since opening in 1902.
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