I Am Dreaming of the Grand Egyptian Museum!

Since 1992, plans for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) were underway (I wasn’t born yet!) and now the largest archeological museum in the world is close to its completion, set to open in 2021.

Check out an aerial view (note the pyramids in the background!):

Ramses II statue arrives, with horseback military guard, at the construction site of the Grand Egyptian Museum, on 25 January 2018. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

It has been a dream of mine to travel to Egypt and see the pyramids, specifically the tomb of Tutankhamun. My first introduction to Egypt was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s, Temple of Dendur when I was four-years-old--I remember running in and out of its vast corridors made of thick, cool sandstone. When I grew older t my mother explained to me that the temple was built about 2,000 years ago on theNile River, and it was transported here, to New York City, to the Sackler Wing of The Met and reconstructed. My feet and hands had touched the same stones that Egyptians had touched thousands of years ago. It still blows my mind when I visit The Met today.

The Grand Egyptian Museum’s General Manager, Tarek Tawfik, explained that the GEM will house close to 6,500 square feet of galleries dedicated to the life of Pharaoh Tutankhamun: how he lived day to day, how he dressed, ate, and a complete collection of his belongings, including a pair of his jeweled sandals. Jeweled sandals!

There will be 5400 items from Tutankhamun’s tomb displayed in the GEM. The gold mask and sarcophagus, the jewels, throne, chariots, a 140-foot-long solar boat that was found buried inside the Great Pyramid.

An archeologist works next to the gilded coffin of King Tutankhamun, which is undergoing restoration at the museum. Photograph: Mohamed Hossam/EPA

An artist’s rendering of how the museum will look when completed:

There will be a separate children’s museum, and in a nod to Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhmun in 1922, the relics and treasure will be displayed in the exact order that Carter and his team came across them 98 years ago.

Covid-19 might be delaying adventures, dreams, and delights of the world, but the key word here is delay. While I wait there is always the virtual tour. Enjoy!