Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum is open!

The museum’s striking alabaster and glass facade is decorated with various sizes and colors of triangles, paying homage to Ancient Egypt. Even the stones around the shallow rectangular pools, where water gently trickles, are pyramidal in shape, adding to the museum’s thematic design. The building is strategically positioned, with its roof level with the Pyramids of Giza plateau and its entrance descending towards the Nile Valley, offering visitors a majestic arrival.

The GEM is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with the galleries themselves welcoming visitors from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Designed by the Irish firm Heneghan Peng Architects, the museum’s design emerged victorious from a competition that attracted 1,557 entries from 82 countries. The Egyptian Ministry of Culture launched the competition in 2003, aiming to create a space that would house, display, and preserve the nation’s ancient treasures. Construction of the GEM began in 2005, but was delayed due to the political unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring. This period of instability led to a sharp decline in tourism and government revenue, which further slowed the project. However, work resumed in 2014 with significant financial and technical assistance from Japan, bringing the museum closer to its long-awaited completion.

While the museum is open to the public, it is considered only “partially open” because the famous treasures of Tutankhamun have yet to be moved from the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo to their dedicated galleries. Additionally, the two ancient “Solar” boats have not yet been placed in their assigned locations. Despite these items still to be displayed, 14 of the museum’s galleries are now open. Visitors can also see the colossal 3,200-year-old, 82-tonne statue of Ramses II, which has been on site for six years but is only now welcoming the public in the museum’s vast atrium.