The largest archeology museum in the world has opened

First insights

But that doesn’t stop visitors. During the KURIER’s on-site inspection, countless locals, school classes and tourists cavort in the gigantic atrium of the GEM, where stone, glass, metal and water dominate. The Hanging Obelisk greeted them in front of the museum and now they get a tutoring lesson about Ramses II from the guide, a small, smart Egyptian woman.

The giant statue of the great pharaoh (above) dominates the atrium and shows the way to the “Journey to Eternity,” as the little smart one says. Visitors embark on this “journey into eternity” when they climb the large staircase (everything in the GEM is large) to the first floor – lined with statues of Queen Hatshepsut and Pharaoh Seti I, columns and sarcophagi (picture below ).

Once at the top, a huge, 27 meter high panoramic window offers a view of the nearby pyramids (unless the Cairo smog prevents this) (picture below).

We turn – always following the little guide – to the left. Right is currently still prohibited. You remember: The initially secret Tutankhamun Halls. The twelve main galleries on the left more than compensate us: designed by an Irish architectural firm, financed with Japanese money, you can find 50,000 ancient objects here, 20,000 of them practically unknown, from prehistoric to Greco-Roman history.

Timeline

“The halls show life in ancient Egypt, society, royalty, faith, immortality, how the Egyptian state was founded,” says Egyptologist Tarek Tafikwho led the GEM project until 2019.

Pharaoh Khufu’s mother also returned to Giza. The grave of Hetepheres I was discovered in 1925 not far from the museum, and her 4,500-year-old gilded bed was painstakingly reconstructed over years of painstaking work. Now it can be admired for the first time. Hetepheres herself looks – in the form of a statue – at her son’s pyramid (picture below).

And speaking of big Egyptian names: Of course, Hatshepsut’s expedition to Punt is discussed – as an interactive comic. Amenhotep IV, who as Akhenaten (pictured below) made tabula rasa with the old gods, invented monotheism and failed, also has the place he deserves.

Murals depict everyday life, festival scenes, dance and funeral processions. Combs, jewelry, perfume bowls, tweezers and a wig provide what women have always absolutely needed and round them off Tour de force through at least 6,000 years of Egyptian history. Everything is given the appropriate setting by the futuristic architecture and is made to shine by the elegant lighting design.

A question of politics

Seen in this way, the more than 20-year wait for the museum was worth it. And at some point the Tutankhamun exhibition will probably open. As soon as the global political situation changes (Keyword: Ukraine war and Middle East conflict) as the former Minister of Antiquities Khalid El-Enany once said in an interview with the KURIER. After all, they want to invite regents and heads of government when the little king and his treasures are presented to the world public. Whether they will still be called King Charles, Putin, Trump or Xi Jinping remains to be seen.