World leaders, including monarchs and heads of state, have attended the inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.
The long-delayed GEM houses more than 50,000 artifacts that show what life was like in ancient Egypt.
The new space, which has been two decades in the making and spans 500,000 square metres, includes immersive exhibits and virtual-reality devices, in contrast to cluttered displays in the more than century-old Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo.
GEM is the world’s largest museum dedicated to an ancient civilisation, and the $1bn (£760m) megaproject is aimed at boosting the country’s tourism industry and troubled economy.
The inauguration ceremony included fireworks and a drone light show depicting ancient gods and pyramids in the sky.
Among the dignitaries at the opening were Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, Spain’s King Felipe, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr al Sisi urged attendees to “make this museum a platform for dialogue, a destination for knowledge, a forum for humanity, and a beacon for all who love life and believe in the value of humankind”.
Israel allows Red Cross and Egyptian teams into Gaza as search for bodies of hostages widens
An extraordinary day in the drive for lasting peace in the Middle East
Trump in Israel for hostages return ahead of Egypt peace summit
Whole collection of Tutankhamun treasures
GEM is located near the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx.
It will display the entire collection of treasures from the tomb of the famed King Tutankhamun for the first time since its discovery in 1922.
Why was the museum delayed?
Construction began in 2005 under then president Hosni Mubarak.
It aimed to replace the Egyptian Museum which had become packed and disorganised, unable to deal with the amount of ancient antiquities in Egypt.
But work on the new museum was interrupted by turmoil surrounding the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that brought down Mr Mubarak.
There were also further delays, and a planned grand opening over the summer had to be put off after the 12-day-long war between Israel and Iran erupted in June.
Mr al Sisi’s office has hailed the museum as “an exceptional event in the history of human culture and civilisation”.
GEM is one of several megaprojects championed by the leader since he took office in 2014.
His country has embarked on massive investments in infrastructure with the aim of reviving an economy weakened by decades of stagnation and battered by the unrest that followed the Arab Spring uprising.
Read more from Sky News:
Ukrainian troops ‘start surrendering’ in key city
Woman among two charged over Louvre heist
Millions set to visit museum each year
The museum is expected to attract five million visitors annually.
In comparison, Paris’s Louvre brought in 8.7 million visitors in 2024, the British Museum 6.5 million and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York 5.7 million.
GEM’s 12 main galleries, which opened last year, exhibit antiquities spanning from prehistoric times to the Roman era, organised by era and by themes.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Two halls that opened for the first time with the grand opening are dedicated to the 5,000 artefacts from the collection of King Tutankhamun – a boy pharaoh who ruled from 1361-1352 BC.
British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb in 1922 in the southern city of Luxor.
But the old Egyptian Museum did not have enough room to display the whole collection, parts of which were often housed in museums abroad.
The collection includes the boy pharaoh’s three funeral beds and six chariots, his golden throne, his gold-covered sarcophagus and his burial mask, made of gold, quartzite, lapis lazuli and coloured glass.
The museum will be open to the public from Tuesday.
