Egypt’s Grand Museum opens, displaying Tutankhamun tomb in full for first time

[ad_1] Yolande Knell, Center East correspondent, Jerusalem and

Wael Hussein, Cairo

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4234/live/32740f10-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images A close up of the face of the Golden Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures The brand new museum will present all the artefacts found by Howard Carter and his crew within the tomb of Tutankhamun

Close to one of many Seven Wonders of the Historical World - the Nice Pyramid of Khufu at Giza - Egypt is formally opening what it intends as a cultural spotlight of the fashionable age.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), described because the world's largest archaeological museum, is full of some 100,000 artefacts protecting some seven millennia of the nation's historical past from pre-dynastic occasions to the Greek and Roman eras.

Distinguished Egyptologists argue that its institution strengthens their demand for key Egyptian antiquities held in different nations to be returned – together with the famed Rosetta Stone displayed on the British Museum.

A most important draw of the GEM would be the total contents of the intact tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, displayed collectively for the primary time because it was discovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. They embody Tutankhamun's spectacular gold masks, throne and chariots.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/8184/live/1d889960-b66c-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Tarek Tawfik wears a grey suit, a red tie and glasses. He smiles at a slight angle to the camera. Behind him, his office is filled with stand-alone shelves holding vases, books and picture frames. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Dr Tarek Tawfik says the museum's opening showcases the workmanship of historical and fashionable Egyptians

"I needed to suppose, how can we present him another way, as a result of for the reason that discovery of the tomb in 1922, about 1,800 items from a complete of over 5,500 that have been contained in the tomb have been on show," says Dr Tarek Tawfik, President of the Worldwide Affiliation of Egyptologists and former head of the GEM.

"I had the concept of displaying the whole tomb, which implies nothing stays in storage, nothing stays in different museums, and also you get to have the whole expertise, the best way Howard Carter had it over 100 years in the past."

Costing some $1.2 bn (£910m; 1.1bn euros) the huge museum complicated is anticipated to draw as much as 8m guests a yr, giving an enormous increase to Egyptian tourism which has been hit by regional crises.

"We hope the Grand Egyptian Museum will usher in a brand new golden age of Egyptology and cultural tourism," says Ahmed Seddik, a information and aspiring Egyptologist by the pyramids on the Giza Plateau.

Other than the Tutankhamun exhibit and a brand new show of the spectacular, 4,500-year-old funerary boat of Khufu - one of many oldest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity - a lot of the galleries on the web site have been opened to the general public since final yr.

"I have been organising so many excursions to the museum despite the fact that it was partially open," Ahmed goes on. "Now it is going to be on the pinnacle of its glory. When the Tutankhamun assortment opens, then you possibly can think about the entire world will come again, as a result of that is an iconic Pharoah, probably the most well-known king of all antiquity."

"It is an absolute must-see," says Spanish vacationer, Raúl, who's awaiting the total public opening on 4 November. "We're simply ready to go and take a look at all the Egyptian artefacts," says Sam from London, who's on an Egypt tour. "It is a as soon as in a lifetime alternative."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/eeff/live/0c182760-b66f-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Ahmed Seddik smiles straight down the camera. He wears a green shirt, glasses and a large hat. In the background are two of the Pyramids of Giza. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Ahmed Seddik hopes that the museum's completion will carry much more vacationers to Giza

One other British vacationer says she beforehand noticed the Tutankhamun reveals on show on the neoclassical Egyptian Museum in bustling Tahrir Sq.. "The outdated museum was fairly chaotic, and it was a bit complicated," she feedback. "Hopefully the Grand Museum might be loads simpler to absorb and I feel you'll simply get extra out of it."

The brand new museum is colossal, spanning 500,000 sq. metres (5.4m sq ft) – in regards to the dimension of 70 soccer pitches. The outside is roofed in hieroglyphs and translucent alabaster reduce into triangles with a pyramid formed entrance.

Among the many GEM showstoppers are a 3,200-year-old, 16m-long suspended obelisk of the highly effective pharaoh, Ramesses II, and his large 11m-high statue. The imposing statue was moved from near the Cairo railway station in 2006, in a posh operation, in preparation for the brand new establishment.

A large staircase is lined with the statues of different historical kings and queens and on an higher ground an enormous window affords a superbly framed view of the Giza pyramids.

The museum was first proposed in 1992, through the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, and development started in 2005. It has now taken almost as lengthy to finish because the Nice Pyramid, in keeping with estimates.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7cf6/live/e4537d60-b66e-11f0-bb84-5d792dcc8544.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images A grand staircase displays statues of ancient kings and queens of Egypt, as visitors admire them." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures Nearly all of the museum, together with the Grand Staircase, has been open to the general public since final yr

The undertaking was hit by monetary crises, the 2011 Arab Spring – which deposed Mubarak and led to years of turmoil - the Covid 19 pandemic, and regional wars.

"It was my dream. I am actually comfortable to see this museum is lastly opened!" Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former long-time minister of tourism and antiquities, tells me. The veteran archaeologist says it reveals that Egyptians are equals of overseas Egyptologists relating to excavations, preservation of monuments and curating museums.

"Now I would like two issues: primary, museums to cease shopping for stolen artefacts and quantity two, I want three objects to return again: the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, the Zodiac from the Louvre and the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin," says Dr Hawass.

He has arrange on-line petitions – attracting a whole bunch of hundreds of signatures – calling for all three objects to be repatriated.

The Rosetta Stone, present in 1799, offered the important thing to deciphering hieroglyphics; it was found by the French military and was seized by the British as warfare booty. A French crew reduce the Dendera Zodiac, an historical Egyptian celestial map, from the Temple of Hathor in Higher Egypt in 1821. Egypt accuses German archaeologists of smuggling the colourfully painted bust of Nefertiti, spouse of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, in another country greater than a century in the past.

"We'd like the three objects to return as a very good feeling from these three nations, as a present, as Egypt gave the world many presents," Dr Hawass says.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4a33/live/49c48bf0-b672-11f0-b2a1-6f537f66f9aa.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Close-up of the Dendera Zodiac. Engravings of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses, animals and hieroglyphics organised in the circle. The engraved material was likely originally white but is greying with age. The figures on the circle represent various constellations and celestial bodies. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures The Dendera Zodiac is presently within the Louvre however the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum has renewed requires it to be returned

One other main Egyptologist, Dr Monica Hanna, names the identical objects, "taken underneath a colonialist pretext," as ones which have to be repatriated. She provides: "The GEM offers this message that Egypt has achieved its homework very properly to formally ask for the objects."

The British Museum advised the BBC that it had obtained: "No formal requests for both the return or the mortgage of the Rosetta Stone from the Egyptian Authorities."

Egyptian Egyptologists voice their pleasure in regards to the new museum changing into a centre for educational analysis, driving new discoveries.

Already, Egyptian conservators primarily based there have painstakingly restored objects belonging to Tutankhamun, together with his spectacular armour fabricated from textiles and leather-based. Based on Egyptian legislation, such restorations can solely be achieved by Egyptians.

"Colleagues from around the globe have been in awe of the improbable conservation work that has been achieved," says Dr Tarek Tawfik, including that the complete undertaking is a supply of nice nationwide pleasure. "In addition to historical Egyptian historical past, we're additionally showcasing fashionable Egypt as a result of it is Egypt that constructed this museum."