Nov. 1 (UPI) — The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt, is one of the world’s largest and opened on Saturday after decades of delays and a cost of more than $1 billion.
The 5 million-square-foot museum features exhibits and artifacts ranging across 7,000 years, from prehistory to about 400 A.D., according to CBS News.
It also is the world’s only museum that is dedicated to one culture, which is ancient Egypt.
“It’s a great day for Egypt and for humanity,” Nevine El-Aref told CBS News. “This is Egypt’s gift to the world.”
El-Aref is the media advisor to Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy.
“It’s a dream come true,” El-Aref added. “After all these years, the GEM is finally and officially open,” he said.
The triangular structure is located about a mile from the pyramids of Giza, which makes it a can’t miss for those who want to experience Egyptian antiquities up close with tours of the pyramids and a visit to the museum.
The GEM’s construction initially was budgeted for $500 million, but that price more than doubled over the past three decades amid delays and cost overruns.
Egyptian sources and international contributions covered the building cost.
The museum first was proposed in 1992, but significant events occurred between then and now, including the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolution in Egypt, a military coup d’etat in 2013 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, delaying its completion, CNN reported.
The GEM’s main entrance features a 53-foot-tall obelisk suspended overhead and is viewable from below via a glass floor.
A grand staircase containing 108 steps enables visitors to access the museum’s main galleries and view large statues from top to bottom.
The GEM has 12 main halls for exhibits and encompasses a combined 194,000 square feet that can hold up to 100,000 items, according to the museum.
The museum also two galleries that are dedicated to the pharaoh Tutankhamun and contain 5,300 pieces from his tomb, NBC News reported.
Those galleries and others will exhibit items that never have been made available for public viewing.
It’s also the first time that all of the young pharaoh’s items have been exhibited under the same roof since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922.
The museum’s walls and slanted ceilings mimic the lines of the nearby pyramids, but the structure does not exceed them in height.
The museum’s opening prompted the Egyptian government to declare a national holiday on Saturday.
How it ranks with the world’s other iconic museums remains to be seen, but it likely will rank favorably with its unique collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and other attractions.
