After years of delays, the Grand Egyptian Museum, a colossal structure containing the largest archaeological collection in the world, is finally finished. The German Federal President also accepted the invitation to the opening ceremony, and demands for the return of the bust of Nefertiti were directed at him.
By Bernd Dörries, Beirut
The new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) was planned, built and worked on for a quarter of a century. It actually looked pretty finished for years, parts of the exhibition have been open for a year, but it hasn’t been officially or ceremoniously opened for a long time: first came Corona, then a brutal economic crisis in Egypt and then finally the war in Gaza a few kilometers away. “We know that the museum opens in November, we just don’t know what year,” the Egyptians joked.