EGYPT UNVEILS GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM TO REVITALISE ITS STRUGGLING ECONOMY, TOURISM

Sun 02 November 2025:

Cairo inaugurated the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, which Egypt hoped would honor the country’s rich heritage while revitalizing its struggling economy and tourism industry.

According to a statement from the Egyptian presidency, global leaders—including monarchs and heads of state and government—attended the grand opening ceremony in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, on Saturday.

After years of anticipation, the Grand Egyptian Museum by the Pyramids opened on Saturday evening, marking the world’s largest archaeological complex dedicated to a single civilization.

The museum was opened in an official ceremony attended by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and delegations from 79 countries, including 39 led by kings, princes, and heads of state and government.

The launch featured musical performances in one of the museum’s courtyards, with the three pyramids visible in the background.

Performers appeared in distinctive pharaonic attire, resembling a grand procession.

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Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly described the museum as a “unique global edifice” and an “exceptional event in Egypt’s history.”

“This dream has lived in our imagination for years. This world-class monument is a gift from Egypt to humanity — a nation with more than 7,000 years of history,” he told a press conference before the opening.

Madbouly thanked everyone who contributed from the idea’s inception to the completion of the project, noting that most of the construction was carried out over the past seven years.

He explained that the concept dated back around 30 years, followed by preparatory work, design competitions, and architectural studies, before the construction began.

Board of Trustees member and businessman Mohamed Mansour predicted that the museum would attract over five million visitors annually.

The government hopes the museum will draw more tourists who will stay for a while and provide the foreign currency needed to shore up Egypt’s battered economy.

A record number of about 15.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2024, contributing about 8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to official figures. Egypt, which has needed repeated bailouts to stabilise its economy, uses the foreign currency it collects from tourism to pay for crucial imports such as fuel and wheat.

The government aims to attract 30 million visitors annually by 2032. The museum will be open to the public starting from Tuesday, authorities said.

The project cost around $1 billion, financed through two Japanese loans totaling $800 million, in addition to Egyptian government funding, donations, and partnerships.

The entrance hall features a colossal statue of Ramses II, and the museum houses over 57,000 artifacts chronicling Egypt’s history. The Grand Staircase spans 6,000 m² — the height of a six-story building — and the museum includes 12 main galleries, temporary exhibition halls, and the Tutankhamun collection with over 5,000 artifacts displayed together for the first time since the tomb’s 1922 discovery.

It also includes a children’s museum, artifacts from Queen Hetepheres, mother of King Khufu, the Khufu boat museum, and various pieces from the Greek and Roman eras.

The design represents sun rays converging from the three pyramids, forming a conical structure — the museum itself — appearing as a “fourth pyramid” when viewed from above.

The logo, unveiled on June 10, 2018, emerged from an international UNESCO-supervised design competition. It reflects the building’s architectural identity, inspired by the orange glow of sunset over the plateau and fluid Arabic calligraphy evoking desert dunes.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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