Over $1 billion and more than 2 decades in the making, a first glimpse into the world’s largest Egyptian civilization museum was just revealed. It’s set to finally open this year, just outside Cairo on the Giza plateau, near the Pyramids.
That’s right; the new Grand Egyptian Museum has recently welcomed a limited number of visitors for guided tours only in order to test the facilities. It’s not fully open yet, but that hasn’t stopped people from posting photos and videos on social media, and from what we can see so far, it’s a showstopper!
Needless to say that it promises to be an extremely popular attraction. If you want to be the first to know when the museum opens, sign up for Flytrippers’ free newsletter to get the latest travel news and see a ton of deals to save on your trips.
Here’s everything we know so far and why it’s going to be the hottest museum to visit in 2024.
The new Grand Egyptian Museum opening
Here’s a video to give you an overview of the museum.
And here’s the key info:
- The new museum sits between the Pyramids and Cairo
- The whole site is 120 acres
- The main building is 484,000 square feet of floor space
- It has 12 exhibition halls
- It will display over 100,000 artifacts
- Planning started back in 2003
- But construction started in 2005
- The opening faced major delays, including:
- Financial crisis in 2008
- Political tension in 2011
- COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
- The Museum is now open to limited tours:
- The tours are helping to test the facilities
- Not every area is currently accessible
- Only the Grand Hall, Gardens, and Commercial area are open
- All galleries are still closed
When the museum opens, it’ll be the largest museum in the world dedicated to only one civilization. That’s very fitting, given how Ancient Egypt has captivated millions of people worldwide.
First look inside the new Grand Egyptian Museum
The Grand Egyptian Museum has faced many delays. The project was due to be finished several years ago but is now set to open late-spring 2024. The exact date hasn’t been confirmed.
A competition to design this huge project closed in 2003, with Irish firm Heneghan Peng Architects as the winner.
It took 2 years to get everything together, and construction officially started in 2005.
Although the whole building isn’t completely accessible, you can still admire the grand hall with its 36-foot-tall, 3,200-year-old Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II statue is open. And it looks as spectacular as you’d imagine!
The unique 1 billion dollar museum
With so many delays, the museum’s cost has skyrocketed. Now at over $1 billion, it’s one of the most expensive museums ever built.
The museum has been designed to bridge the gap between Egypt’s past and future. It represents a fraction of the huge investments Egypt is making these days, as they are also building a completely new capital city from scratch, to replace the overcrowded Cairo.
The vast Grand Egyptian Museum site has small raised gardens, glass ceilings, and a colossal stone facade that connects the city of Cairo to the Sahara desert .
The impressive building has 12 galleries, filled with over 100,000 artifacts.
The highlight is definitely the gallery dedicated to the famous pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Indeed, for the first time in history, all 5,000 items found in Tutankhamun’s tomb will be on display across 2 huge halls. There will also be an interactive technological display.
We can’t wait for the museum to officially open so we can explore it properly. If Egypt has been on your travel bucket list, 2024 is definitely the year to visit.
As a reminder, Egypt is also one of the most affordable destinations in the world; don’t miss that full list soon!
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Featured image: Grand Egyptian Museum (photo credit: Grand Egyptian Museum, Official Instagram)
