STORY: Prime ministers, presidents and royalty descended on Cairo on Saturday (November 1) to attend the spectacle-laden inauguration of a sprawling new museum built near the Pyramids to house one of the world's richest collections of antiquities.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his wife Entissar Amer toured the museum along with dozens of guests.

The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, marks the end of a two-decade construction effort hampered by the Arab Spring uprisings, pandemic and wars in neighbouring countries.

The audience included German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, and the crown princes of Oman and Bahrain.

The museum’s most heavily promoted attraction is the expansive collection of treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb, uncovered in 1922, including the boy-king's golden burial mask, throne and sarcophagus, and thousands of other objects.

A colossal statue of Ramses II that sat for decades in a downtown Cairo square bearing the pharaoh's name now adorns the grand entry hall.

The complex's sleek design evoking the Pyramids cuts a marked contrast to the dusty and often outmoded displays in the neoclassical Egyptian Museum that opened over a century ago in central Cairo overlooking Tahrir Square.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: GIZA, EGYPT (NOVEMBER 1, 2025) (UMS – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT ABDEL FATTAH AL-SISI WITH HIS WIFE ENTISSAR AMER / SISI COUPLE ACCOMPANIED BY DOZENS OF GUESTS / GUESTS POSING NEAR GIANT STATUE OF PHARAOH RAMESSES II

2. SISI AND AMER WALKING ALONG WITH GUESTS

3. VARIOUS OF GUESTS GOING UP LONG TRAVELATOR PAST RELICS

4. VARIOUS OF SISI AND AMER WALKING TOWARDS SECTION HOUSING EXPANSIVE COLLECTION OF TREASURES FROM TUTANKHAMUN'S TOMB

5. VARIOUS OF SISI AND AMER STANDING AND LOOKING AT TUTANKHAMUN'S BOY-KING'S GOLDEN BURIAL MASK

6. VARIOUS OF GUESTS LOOKING AT GOLDEN BURIAL MASK

7. MAN LOOKING AT EXHIBITS

8. SISI AND AMER STANDING AND LOOKING AT EXHIBITS

9. GUESTS NEAR WINDOW

10. MAN TAKING PHOTO OF GOLDEN BURIAL MASK

11. VARIOUS OF ARTEFACTS

12. GUESTS ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THE ENTRANCE / STATUE OF PHARAOH RAMESSES II