Meredith Taylor on The Grand Egyptian Museum: ‘state-of-the-art splendour’

Meredith Taylor

We got a sneak preview of The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) late last year before it officially opened to the public on November 4, 2025, the culmination of a generations-long dream and two decades of construction. Located near the Pyramids of Giza, GEM is the largest museum dedicated to a single civilisation, housing over 100,000 artefacts from ancient Egypt.

This colossal cultural edifice stands as a new offering. To Egypt’s timeless treasures, under the patronage and vision of an ambitious political leadership that turned the project into reality. GEM delivers a message to the entire world that Egypt, continues to captivate with its creativity focusing on preserving the nation’s cultural heritage and showcasing it in state-of-the-art splendour.

New features this year include Tutankhamun Gallery housing the complete collection of King Tutankhamun’s treasures, including his famous golden mask and over 5,000 artefacts; the vast statue of Ramses II greets visitors at the museum entrance. The 3,200-year-old figure weighs around 83 tonnes.

Designed by a firm of Irish architects GEM is a magnificent tribute to Egypt past and present, the museum enhances the visitor experience with tiered galleries accessed from an impressive ascending staircase and lined with significant artefacts that allow a rare glimpse of the considerable treasures on offer dating back to many thousands of years.

Constructed with sand-coloured concrete and translucent alabaster and covering around 500,000 square meters (5.4 million square feet) a tour will take the average visitor all day to absorb the treasures on offer. Design-wise the museum takes the shape of a chamfered triangle, echoing the geometry of the nearby pyramids, which can be viewed from the enormous floor to ceiling windows. The Khufu Boat Museum: showcases a 4,500-year-old funerary boat, one of the oldest intact ships in the world. The experiences is expected to attract up to eight million visitors annually, boosting Egyptian tourism significantly. Visitors can stay in downtown Cairo’s 5-star hotels or enjoy the luxury accommodation nearby for a fascinating cultural long weekend, or combined with a trip down south to Aswan, or even a Nile cruise.
The 46th Cairo International Film Festival runs from 12th – 21st November 2025.