Great Egyptian Museum, the “Louvre of Archaeology” that is expected

The Great Egyptian Museum plans to become the “Louvre of Archaeology”, a monumental construction to house countless ancient treasures. However, ten years after the actual start of the works, it is not yet clear when this project that began no less than 30 years ago will finally be inaugurated.

A kind of colossal fan of clear concrete, steel and glass stretches across the desert slope, with the pyramids of Giza on the plateau behind.

Slowly the Great Egyptian Museum is taking shape and you can already guess how school groups and tourists will move around the front yard next to the palm trees. But, a decade after the start of the works, the question remains: when will it finally open its doors?

Last February, the Ministry of Antiquities announced that basically only a few final steps were missing. He explained that the structural works, the courtyard of lights and the large staircase were already ready, while the interior fittings were “99.8 percent” and the outdoor areas, at “98 percent”.

The GEM, by its acronym in English, will become the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization, with a collection of 100,000 artifacts and an area comprising 70 football fields.

However, slowly, the projected Louvre of the treasures of antiquity gradually became a permanent work.

Just over ten years ago, on March 12, 2012, the actual commencement of the works to erect the GEM was celebrated. The first stone was laid by the late President Hosni Mubarak in 2002 and the first works began in 2005. The project had been announced in 1992, but 30 years have passed since then.

Meanwhile, Cairo clarifies that there is no official opening date yet. “At the opening ceremony I want to have kings, queens and heads of state,” the Minister of Antiquities, Khalid al Anani, told dpa last summer.

Al Anani explained that a ceremony with 600 guests or more is not possible during the coronavirus pandemic. “I want to celebrate this event. I think it will be the biggest opening in Egypt's recent history,” said the minister.

In addition to the pandemic, revolution and strong political changes have also caused delays since 2011. Added to this was the lack of funds due to the economic depression in Egypt.

According to various reports, the estimated construction costs meanwhile amount to more than 900 million euros (more than 970 million dollars), and thus about double what was initially estimated. In 2015, the news page “Al Monitor” asked: “Will the museum ever open?”

However, when this happens, visitors will be surprised by the stature of Pharaoh Ramses II, eleven meters high, in the monumental courtyard of lights.

5,000 years of history will come to life here, from ancient Egypt to Greco-Roman times. A highlight will be the funerary treasure of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, from the Valley of the Kings, which for the first time will be fully exhibited.

exhibition rooms of the building, designed by the Irish architecture firm Heneghan Peng, were designed by the Atelier Brückner in the German city of Stuttgart.

Some visitors may be a little confused. Even Ramses II might look small in the huge pavilion... and... who wants to observe thousands of artifacts during a tour?

But the magazine “Architectural Digest” analyzes that the GEM, connected to the pyramids through visual axes, could well be transformed into a structural extension and a modern interpretation of these famous ancient constructions.

The “boy pharaoh” Tutankhamun could become a key to guessing the opening date. Because November 4th marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of his tomb by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

Egyptian Government loves to stage antiquities with a lot of “pathos” and symbolic power. Therefore, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass assessed a few months ago that an opening of the GEM on that day would become “a global event”.

dpa