The Grand Egyptian Museum

Outside Cairo, Egypt, in the shadow of Giza’s famous pyramids, sprawls the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). With more than 100,000 artifacts from ancient Egypt, including 5,000 from King Tutankhamen’s (too-tang-KAH-muhn) tomb, the GEM is the world’s largest archaeological museum.

The first stone was laid in 2002, but political unrest, economic struggles, the Covid-19 pandemic, and lapses in funding delayed construction. Beginning in 2012, multiple projected opening dates came and went. When the GEM finally opened in July 2025, it had been in the works for more than 20 years (experts believe the 4,600-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza itself took only 25 years to build).

Constructed with concrete and translucent alabaster stone, the museum’s exterior features repeating triangles. This is a direct nod to the pyramids of Giza, visible beyond the museum grounds. A dramatic triangular entrance echoes the angles used in the pyramids, clearly linking past and present through architecture.

The Grand Staircase, which leads visitors from the entrance to the 12 main galleries, is an impressive exhibition itself. The stairs are lined with ancient obelisks, statues, and sarcophagi.

The earliest known Egyptian wig was created in around 3400 B.C. Since then, wigs have played a major role in Egyptian culture. They helped protect people’s scalps from the sun and served as a symbol of status and wealth. Intricately crafted human hair wigs like the one shown here would have been valuable and worn mostly by the elite. This example offers a glimpse into ancient Egyptian fashion and cultural values.

Meryre (MAY-ree-ray) was a high priest who lived around 1350 B.C. The painted limestone statue above depicts Meryre and his wife, Iniuia (eh-NOO-ee-uh), sitting side by side. Meryre wears gold beads given to him by the pharaoh; Iniuia wraps an arm around her husband’s shoulders. Limestone statues like this were painted to be as lifelike as possible and placed in tombs to hold the deceased’s spiritual essence.

The GEM is home to a collection of blue ushabti (oo-SHAB-tee). These figurines were placed in tombs as servants for the deceased in the afterlife. Artists sculpted the ushabti in ceramic and finished them with a distinctive bright-blue glaze made from copper oxide.