The Egyptian Government set this Wednesday November 1 of this year as the new date for the full opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), after the authorities postponed the expected opening scheduled for July 3 due to cross attacks between Israel and Iran.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said during a Cabinet meeting that the North African country’s president, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, “approved the inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum for November 1,” according to a statement from the Council of Ministers.
To this end, Madbouli instructed the competent authorities to “finalize preparations at full speed to ensure that the GEM and its surroundings are completely ready” with the aim that “the inauguration of the museum will be a prestigious event.”
“The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum is being prepared to be an exceptional event, adding to a long list of distinguished national events associated with the modern history of Egypt,” said the head of the Government, adding that the opening will be attended by “a distinguished official presence from numerous countries.”
Likewise, he indicated that the inauguration will be accompanied by “various parallel events” that highlight “the greatness of the heritage of Egyptian civilization, with its different chapters” and with the aim of “attracting visitors from all over the world” to what will be one of the largest museums on the entire planet.
Since construction began in 2002 under President Hosni Mubarak, the opening of the GEM has been postponed at least twice since Egyptian authorities announced that it would open in 2022, coinciding with the bicentennial of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the centenary of the decipherment of hieroglyphs.
However, the event has been postponed due to the economic crisis that the country is going through, the popular revolutions and protests in the Middle East, in addition to the coronavirus pandemic.
The last date set was July 3, but in mid-June the Egyptian government postponed the inauguration until the end of the year due to regional tensions and exchanges of drone and missile attacks between Israel and Iran.
Until now, only some of the museum’s rooms can be visited, but after the official opening, visitors will have access to the entire facility, considered “the fourth pyramid” due to its design and proximity to the three pyramids of Giza.
There are more than 57,000 objects that show different stages of the pharaonic civilization.
The GEM is prepared to receive up to 15,000 people daily and the Egyptian Government wants to grandly inaugurate the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization.