The opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), scheduled for July 3, was postponed once again, this time in the fourth quarter of 2025. The museum was since February 2023 very partially open and for small groups. The postponement is mainly motivated by the worsening of regional tensions. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sissi explained that “Current circumstances require increased vigilance to guarantee the safety of visitors and works”. The Houthis, allied with Iran,, for example, extended their ballistic strikes to Israel and the Red Sea.
The construction of the GEM was marked by many obstacles. Launched in 2002 by the president of then Hosni Mubarak, the project underwent a first judgment with the Egyptian revolution of 2011. The fall of the regime and the economic crisis led to the interruption of the site. After a recovery in 2014 thanks to Japanese funding of $ 300 million (around 280 million euros), the COVVI-19 pandemic in 2020 has caused a new delay. In total, the duration of construction now exceeds twenty years, against five years initially planned.
Located two kilometers from the Gizeh plateau, the Grand Egyptian Museum site covers almost 50 hectares (490,000 m²) with 100,000 m² of built surface, including 40,000 m² dedicated to exhibitions. Designed by the Irish cabinet Heneghan Peng Architects, the building adopts a triangular structure inspired by neighboring pyramids, with a limestone facade and a concrete toit in a fan. The site of phase III was awarded in 2012 to the Orascom (Egypt) – Besix (Belgium) consortium for an amount of $ 810 million (around 756 million euros).
The museum collection brings together more than 100,000 artifacts from Egyptian reserves. Among them, the entire Treasury of Tutorkhamon, about 5,400 objects, is exposed for the first time as a whole. The galleries are organized according to a chronological and thematic journey covering all the pharaonic periods, from the predynastic era to Greco-Roman dominations. The museum also has a catering center, connected by a secure tunnel to the main building, scientific laboratories, a museum for children, conference rooms and an auditorium. The Brückner (Germany) workshop supervised the museography.
View of an architect of the great Egyptian museum in Cairo.
© Heneghan Peng Architects
