Overview
- Egypt hosted a lavish opening ceremony in Cairo with roughly 80 official delegations, about half led by royalty or heads of state and government.
- The $1 billion project took about 20 years to complete and was designed by Ireland’s Heneghan Peng with Japanese financial and technical support.
- The museum holds more than 100,000 artifacts, with about half on display, forming what officials describe as the largest collection devoted to a single civilization.
- Signature features include an 11‑meter, 83‑ton statue of Ramses II in the atrium, conservation labs visible to visitors, VR presentations, a children’s museum and the Khufu solar boat project.
- Authorities frame the GEM as a tourism catalyst with multi‑million annual visitor targets, even as experts warn that recent thefts, long‑term maintenance needs and regional instability could undermine its impact.