The Soft Opening of the GEM Documented

12 Ancient Halls

After a long wait, the moment is finally here! We’re thrilled to announce a major milestone in Egypt. The Grand Egyptian Museum’s main artifact galleries and exhibit halls finally opened to the public in a soft opening on Wednesday, October 16th.  You may have seen the news on the main page of the Wall Street Journal, or across social media. Now, we all know that The GEM has been gradually opening over the last few years, with different sections becoming accessible one by one.  Each year during my visit, I feel a sense of pride in seeing those new areas, in many cases, often being among the first to experience them and for the record, I’m currently up to three hours in tracking how much time it takes to fully explore the GEM.

 

Just as we did when the GEM first opened, Nour from our Egypt team visited the site for an “On-Site” to explore all the newly completed halls on the now-open second floor firsthand. The Tut exhibit is also open, though the artifacts from the Egyptian Museum have not been moved yet. We anticipate that happening soon. As we did last time, Nour provided a live commentary of her experience.

 

That transcript is below:

11:04am – About to Enter

11:09am – Welcome to this amazing world wonder

11:16am – About to start the tour. GEM, not just a museum but also a cultural hub divided into two sections.

11:25am – Division of the Museum – Cultural and educational hub. Celebrates Egyptian culture in all its form. Even the commercial area is 100% Egyptian. Gonna send you more the tour is super detailed

11:30am – Those black pillars have the word Egypt on it in every single language in the world

11:35am – One of the kings that had many stories about Egypt. This 11m statues was all about symbolizing eternity in perfection. Showing the perfect shape. Using granite shows that economy during his period Was great.

11:43am – Where the sun hits, on his birthday and date of him having the throne, Leads to the main galleries and King Tut area

11:56am – 12 halls shows development in society, kingship and beliefs

12:00pm – Best part of this museum, you see the actual tools

12:04pm – Beginning of hierarchy on the society. Pre dynastic so no king.

12:26pm – Realism symbol of art in the Middle Kingdom. Wanted to project realism not idealism. To ensure proper identification

12:27pm  – Fun fact, no chickens in Middle Kingdom, only geese and ducks.

12:31pm – The most powerful evolution that happened in the Middle Kingdom in writing

12:35pm – All natural colors. This is why they don’t dissolve or change easily. Now I’m entering the oldest beauty salon in the world!

12:42pm – This is all on the second floor after you finish the staircase the left. It’s incredible! 12 halls!

12:45pm – The museum is complete, there is construction outside in a separate building behind the museum.

12:52pm – This phase is a soft opening. This and the grand opening is for the 12 halls in the main building. The king tut artifacts are being planned to be moved over in time for the grand opening which is not formally scheduled yet.

12:54pm – The Children’s Museum is also open

1:08pm – The period showing the main cachets are not from the old museum. They are from an area called Abu Sir… one of the most magnificent pieces in the museum. As important as the Rosetta Stone!

1:18pm – There will be another building for the solar boats. A completely separate building inside the museum. By the way the museum is super busy

1:20pm – The Children’s Museum is for kids aged 6 – 12. It takes 45 mins and is very interactive. It is half way inside the staircase

 

All I can say is wow! Nour took photos and video of her visit so we could document all the new areas of the GEM that are opening.

 

Enjoy her video and see you at the GEM!