After intensive preparations and several delays, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), dedicated to the civilization of the pharaohs, will be inaugurated on Saturday in Cairo. The highly publicized event is intended to glorify the government's achievements and stimulate tourism.
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Five million visitors are expected annually to the modern building, which houses emblematic artifacts from Egyptian antiquity that have sometimes never been exhibited. superlative before opening.
This monumental museum, dedicated to the civilization of the pharaohs, thirty dynasties with more than 5,000 years of history with panoramic views of the Pyramids of Giza, cost more than a billion dollars and required twenty years of Herculean labor.
Five million visitors are expected every year to the modern building, which houses emblematic artifacts from Egyptian antiquity, some never before exhibited.
“A historic event”, “Egypt’s gift to the world”, “a new chapter in the history of Egyptian civilization”… official press releases and the local press compete in superlatives before the opening.
Some 80 official delegations are expected to attend the ceremony, including “40 led by kings, princes, heads of state and government,” according to Egypt's Foreign Ministry.
In keeping with the vertical communications of Egyptian authorities, preparations were carried out in the strictest secrecy, and nothing was leaked about the evening's program or even about the new museum's star attraction: the treasures of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922 in an intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt.
“Cradle of Civilization”
During the public opening on Tuesday, visitors will be able to discover 4,500 of the 5,000 funerary objects previously scattered across several sites across the country, including the colonial-era Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in central Cairo.
In a sign of the national importance of the event, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held a high-level meeting last week to advance preparations, according to an official statement.
During that meeting, the head of state insisted on “the need for increased coordination to ensure an opening ceremony worthy of Egypt's prestige and its role as the cradle of world civilization,” the same press release said.
“Particular attention was paid to the symbolic dimension of GEM, which aims to become a cultural and scientific center on an international scale, helping to strengthen the promotion of tourism in Egypt,” he added.
During a final inspection visit on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly stressed that the event reflected in particular Egypt's role as a “world leader in culture,” according to another press release.
After several delays due to the Arab Spring and then the Covid-19 pandemic, the official opening was set for July 3. But Egyptian authorities chose to postpone it at the last minute due to regional tensions in order to give the event “the global scale it deserves.”
“15 million visitors”
To reach a wider audience, United Media Services (UMS), the Egyptian media giant responsible for the event, announced it had signed a “strategic partnership” with TikTok aimed at “strengthening Egypt’s cultural visibility on the global stage.”
After years plagued by political instability in the country, then a series of attacks and finally the global pandemic of 2020, Egyptian tourism, crucial to the country's economy, is recovering, with revenues amounting to $14.4 billion in the 2023-2024 fiscal year (+34.6% compared to the previous fiscal period), with a record number of tourists since the pandemic.
According to official data, 15 million foreign visitors visited the country in the first nine months of the year, up 21% from the same period the previous year, with revenue of $12.5 billion (+14.7%).
Authorities expect 17.8 million tourists in 2025 and 18.6 million in 2026, driven by maritime and cultural tourism.
