Inside the world’s largest archeology museum - the Grand Egyptian Museum in pictures

A visitor looks out towards the Giza pyramid complex at the world’s largest archeological museum, which is slated to fully open this summer outside of Cairo

Sprawling about 500,000 square meters, equivalent to about 70 soccer fields, it is the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization

A statue of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the museum’s main hall. Egypt’s longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak first proposed the museum in 1992, and construction on the project began in 2005

After years of delays due to political unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic, parts of the museum opened in 2023 to limited tours

The museum’s grand opening is slated for 3 July 2025

Officials have said they expect the museum to draw 5 million visitors a year

The top of the main building is level with the Giza pyramids

The building’s facade pays tribute to the nearby pyramids and is made of translucent alabaster stone

The original Egyptian Museum, in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, will continue to operate

However, many of its artifacts, including those from the reign of Tutankhamun, have been or will be relocated to the new museum

The final transportation and installation of a granite statue of Ramesses II in 2018. Officials spent years assembling the museum’s collection

Today the statue presides over the museum’s main hall

Designers say the building’s climate-smart designs – which include a reflective roof, external shading and resource-efficient lighting – help it save more than 60% in energy costs and reduce water use by a third

An Egyptian archeologist works next to the gilded coffin of King Tutankhamun, which underwent an eight-month restoration process, the first since the tomb was discovered in 1922. About 150 conservators and researchers work on-site restoring and studying artefacts. Many of the artefacts on display are being shown to the public for the first time