The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), said to be the world’s largest archaeological museum, filled with nearly 100,000 artifacts, has been officially inaugurated by Egypt.

Located near the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—Egypt has officially inaugurated the museum it considers a modern-era cultural attraction.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), said to be the world’s largest archaeological museum, is filled with nearly 100,000 artifacts, representing almost seven millennia of the country’s history, spanning from the pre-dynastic period to the Greek and Roman eras.

The proposal for this museum was first made in 1992 during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, and its construction began in 2005. It is estimated to have taken nearly as long to complete as the Great Pyramid itself.

The project faced financial crises, the 2011 Arab Spring—which ousted Mubarak and caused years of turmoil—the COVID-19 pandemic, and regional wars.

Leading Egyptologists argue that its establishment has strengthened their demand for the return of major Egyptian antiquities held abroad—including the famous Rosetta Stone displayed in the British Museum.

‘Grand Egyptian Museum’

The GEM’s main attraction will be the complete collection from the intact tomb of boy king Tutankhamun, being displayed together for the first time since its discovery by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. These include Tutankhamun’s magnificent golden mask, throne, and chariots.

Built at a cost of about 1.2 billion dollars (910 million pounds; 1.1 billion euros), this vast museum complex is expected to attract up to 8 million visitors annually, providing a major boost to Egypt’s tourism industry affected by regional crises.

In addition to the Tutankhamun exhibition and the new display of Khufu’s magnificent 4,500-year-old funerary boat—one of the oldest and best-preserved boats of antiquity—most of the site’s galleries have been open to the public since last year.

The new museum is massive, covering an area of 500,000 square meters (5.4 million square feet)—about 70 football fields. The exterior is covered with hieroglyphs and triangular-cut translucent alabaster, and the entrance is pyramid-shaped.

Among GEM’s attractions are the powerful Pharaoh Ramses II’s 3,200-year-old, 16-meter-long suspended obelisk and his colossal 11-meter-high statue. This grand statue was moved from near Cairo’s railway station in 2006 under a complex campaign in preparation for the new institution.

A grand staircase features statues of other ancient kings and queens, and a huge window on the upper floor offers a beautiful view of the Pyramids of Giza.