Some 33 years ago, a triggering remark rekindled the dream of the Grand Egyptian Museum. In 1992, former Culture Minister Farouk Hosni was visiting France when an Italian artist asked him, “What will you do with that storeroom you have?” Hosni replied quickly, “We will build the largest museum in the world.” His answer wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment remark — he had been thinking about it for some time, but the Italian man’s words pushed him to say it aloud.

Hosni knew that the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square had become little more than a storage space — unsuitable for displaying colossal statues, too small to house the massive number of artifacts, and lacking the kind of museum experience worthy of ancient Egyptian civilization. “Go ahead,” said then-President Hosni Mubarak to his culture minister, marking the start of the journey to create the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Hosni chose the location, just two kilometers from the Giza Pyramids, to provide visitors with a unique experience. In 1993, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture invited Italy to collaborate on the project, and a joint Egyptian-Italian commission was formed. A few years later, the Italian side completed an extensive eight-volume feasibility study.

In 2002, the foundation stone of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza was laid, and construction began in 2005. Under the sponsorship of UNESCO and the International Union of Architects, an international architectural competition was held to select the museum’s design. Out of 1,557 proposals submitted by designers from 83 countries, the jury selected the winning concept by Heneghan Peng Architects, whose concept envisioned the museum’s structure as a conical form aligned with the rays of the sun extending from the peaks of the three pyramids.

In 2006, Egypt established the largest artifact restoration center in the Middle East — dedicated to restoring, preserving, and preparing the artifacts destined for the museum’s exhibition halls. The center officially opened in 2010.

In 2012, Egypt launched the third phase — the construction of the main building — housing the museum’s galleries, theaters, conservation labs, educational and cultural centers, and a state-of-the-art IT and communications infrastructure.

In 2016, the government decided to establish a public authority for the museum and assigned the Armed Forces Engineering Authority to oversee its construction — a move that helped accelerate progress in the following years.

Today, the museum’s grounds cover a total of 500k sqm. That is roughly the size of 70 soccer fields or twice the size of the Louvre, making it one of the most ambitious cultural projects ever undertaken. Among its highlights:

  • 27k sqm: The Hanging Obelisk Plaza — the museum’s dramatic entryway.
  • 6k sqm: The Grand Staircase, lined with 87 colossal statues leading visitors toward the exhibition halls.
  • 7.5k sqm: The Tutankhamun Gallery, showcasing 5,000 artifacts — displayed together for the first time since Howard Carter’s 1922 discovery.
  • 18k sqm: Permanent exhibition halls featuring thousands of artifacts across multiple galleries.
  • 1.4k sqm: The Solar Boats Museum, displaying both Khufu’s reconstructed vessels.

The museum’s restoration center — the largest in the Middle East — is located 10 meters below ground and spans 12.3k sqm, while storage facilities covering 3.4k sqm can accommodate up to 50k artifacts, all equipped with the latest climate-control and security systems.

The largest source of funding for the GEM comes from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which has provided two loans in 2008 and 2016 worth USD 800 mn. JICA’s contribution also covers technical cooperation agreements including the training of conservators who work in the museum’s state-of-the art conservation center.

JICA is also providing a USD 733 mn loan to finance the construction of Cairo Metro Line 4, which will link the heart of Cairo with Giza, including the Pyramids and the GEM making the museum more accessible.

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