CAIRO: Egypt opened a series of galleries to the public on Tuesday in its flagship new museum, but the glittering King Tutankhamun collection and solar boats buried by the Pyramid of Khufu are yet to be unnveiled, pending a long-delayed grand inauguration.

More than 20 years under construction, the sprawling Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) next to the pyramids of Giza was initially scheduled to open in 2012 but the launch was repeatedly pushed back due to cost overruns and political tumult.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly last week announced a “trial opening” ahead of a formal inauguration. Egyptian officials say a number of world leaders have expressed interest in attending the official opening but have not indicated when this will take place.

The museum’s main entrance hall with its stairway of Pharaonic statues and an annex for commercial shopping opened to the public in Feb 2023.

Ali Abu Al Shish, a member of the Egyptian Archaeologists Union who attended Tuesday’s opening of almost a dozen galleries, said the trial operation of the vast museum was evidence Egypt now had the space to exhibit its antiquities, including those being returned by Western states and museums. It’s an “important message that we can recover our antiquities, which are spread across various countries in the world,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2024