Au pied des pyramides de Gizeh, le Grand Egyptian Museum dévoile ses mille et une merveilles
After more than two decades of delays, financial turmoil, and political upheaval, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo has finally opened its doors in November 2025. Designed by the Irish firm Heneghan Peng, the vast 800-meter-long, 40-meter-high structure sits at the foot of the Giza pyramids, its triangular motifs echoing the ancient monuments. Inside, the museum showcases thousands of artifacts from its collection of 130,000, including the towering 11-meter statue of Ramesses II and the complete treasure of Tutankhamun, displayed in a dramatic, chronologically arranged staircase designed by Atelier Brückner.
The GEM is now the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization, marking a monumental achievement for Egypt's cultural heritage and tourism. Its opening resolves a long-running saga of budget overruns (from $800 million to $1.1 billion) and construction challenges, including the 2011 Arab Spring and the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum's location, though isolated by a highway interchange, offers a unique visual dialogue with the pyramids, positioning Cairo as a renewed global destination for ancient art and archaeology.