President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated the Grand Egyptian Museum in the presence of kings, presidents, heads of government and other leaders from 79 countries around the world, MENA reported, quoted by NOVA.
He called the museum a three-dimensional image reflecting the path of a generous people – the creator of civilization, who creates glory and is proud of their homeland. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Sisi emphasized that Egypt was the first country to plan the creation of civilization – the place where the world witnessed the birth of art, thought, writing and faith.
The opening ceremony of the world's largest archaeological complex, located near the pyramids of Giza, marks the culmination of a project worth more than $1 billion, which was completed after nearly two decades of work. The facade of the museum, located on a slope overlooking the Giza plateau and the pyramids, was illuminated in the last few nights before the grand opening. There was a heavy police presence around the building on Saturday morning, AFP reported.
The construction of the glass and stone building, erected on an area of half a million square meters with the financial and technical support of Japan, cost more than $1 billion and took twenty years of colossal effort, the agency added.
“We all imagined and dreamed about this project, we wondered if it would really come true, if we would all see its implementation and be present on this great day“, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said earlier.
“The idea for the museum emerged about thirty years ago and after a pause caused by the circumstances that Egypt went through after 2011, most of the project […] was realized in the last seven to eight years“, the Egyptian prime minister recalled.
The main attraction is Tutankhamun's treasure, discovered in 1922 in an intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt - nearly 5,000 funerary objects, brought together for the first time in one place.
In total, the museum has more than 100,000 artifacts, half of which will be on display - the world's largest collection dedicated to a single civilization spanning 5,000 years and 30 dynasties.
At its public opening on Tuesday, visitors will be greeted in the vast foyer by the museum's most imposing statue - 83 tons of granite and 11 meters high - depicting Ramses II, the pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 66 years more than 3,000 years ago.
Unlike the Egyptian Museum, built in the colonial era in downtown Cairo and now outdated and neglected, the Grand Egyptian Museum offers interactive galleries, sophisticated lighting, virtual reality exhibitions and even a children's museum.
“Egypt will become the center of Egyptology […] it is unacceptable that most international conferences are held outside the country,“ Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy told reporters.
Egypt's tourism sector - a vital source of foreign exchange and jobs - has been shaken repeatedly over the past fifteen years - from the 2011 uprising to the subsequent waves of unrest and sporadic terrorist attacks, AFP noted.
However, tourism has shown signs of recovery in recent years - 15 million visitors visited Egypt in the first nine months of 2025, bringing in $12.5 billion in revenue - a 21 percent increase from the previous year.