Egyptian president opened the largest museum in the world

Cairo – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi officially opened the largest museum in the world yesterday during a ceremonial event near the pyramids of Giza. Numerous world leaders attended the event, which featured a musical and dance show with performers dressed in historical costumes. The monumental building, which took over 20 years to construct, houses more than 50,000 exhibits related to life in ancient Egypt.

"In the name of this ancient homeland, we are writing a new chapter in the history of the present and the future," said the Egyptian president. He had previously referred to the museum on social media as a fusion of the genius of the ancient Egyptians and the creativity of their modern descendants.

Many world leaders attended the ceremony, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and representatives from Portugal, Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia. The Egyptian State Information Service announced on Friday that nearly 80 delegations would attend the ceremony, including 39 delegations led by kings, princes, and heads of state and government.

The building contains more than 50,000 exhibits related to life in ancient Egypt, surpassing even the Louvre Museum in Paris. However, only half of the objects are on display at the Grand Egyptian Museum, while the other half is stored in a depot, reports France 24.

The museum, covering an area of 24,000 m², displays around 5,000 artifacts from the collection of King Tutankhamun in two halls. The exhibition of the entire collection will be visible for the first time since 1922, when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb in Luxor. According to renowned Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the exhibits associated with this pharaoh are the museum's biggest attraction.

The newly opened museum complex was designed by the Irish firm Heneghan Peng Architects. The glass façade in the shape of a triangle references the nearby pyramids. In the spacious atrium, visitors are welcomed by a monumental granite statue of Pharaoh Ramses II. This 3,200-year-old and 11-meter-tall statue previously stood on a roundabout in front of the main train station in Cairo.

The government also enhanced the surroundings of the museum and the area around the pyramids and the Great Sphinx in Giza, as well as constructing new highways and starting the construction of a subway station nearby. An airport in the western part of Cairo is located about 40 minutes from the museum.

Cairo hopes that foreign visitors coming to Egypt for the museum will stay longer in the country, thus helping to revive tourism. Tourism has stagnated in recent years due to political instability since the so-called Arab Spring in 2011.

The museum is expected to attract around five million visitors annually, making it one of the most successful museums in the world in terms of visitor numbers. The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million people last year, and the British Museum in London had 6.5 million visitors.

The museum will be open to the public starting November 4, DPA reports. However, it has been partially open since last year when management began trial tours.