this year
Let's go to Egypt together
The highly anticipated Grand Egyptian Museum is already preparing for its gradual opening.
Located next to the Great Pyramid of Giza, it has been preparing for nearly 20 years, costing $1 billion and housing more than 100,000 artifacts, where all the treasures of Tutankhamun's mausoleum will be transferred... It is the largest archaeological museum in the world.
It not only brings together the best collections from Egypt's different museums, but also takes out treasures that have never been on display to the public before.
More than 50,000 artifacts will be presented to the public, of which more than 30,000 will be exhibited for the first time.
No wonder the official said: The Great Egyptian Museum is Egypt's gift to the world.
The museum was originally expected to open in '18, but due to the delay in the construction period until the epidemic, it was repeatedly postponed until this year.
But since the beginning of the year, not only has there been a concert at the foot of the statue of Ramses II inside, but there have also been frequent art exhibitions in the gallery.
As the public area was gradually unlocked, I finally had a real feeling: it was really about to officially open.
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Museum of the Great Egypt
It is gradually opening up to the outside world
The extremely mysterious interior of the Great Egyptian Museum is gradually unveiling.
For example, in the hall, the statue of Ramses II, which is 12 meters high and weighs more than 80 tons. He holds a scroll and his lower body is wrapped in the iconic costume of ancient Egypt, and his name is embroidered on his belt.
This is an artifact found in Memphis in 1820 and was previously placed in Ramses Square.
Ramses II, one of the most important emperors of ancient Egypt, ordered the construction of the famous Abu Simbel Temple.
A thousand years ago, every year on his birthday, February 21 and his coronation day, October 21, the first rays of morning sunlight would shine through the temple on the face of the statue of Ramses II.
The Grand Egyptian Museum continued this design, preserving this ray of sunlight for the "darling of the sun" three thousand years later.
Not only Ramses II, but also the Great Egyptian Museum has prepared a total of 100 huge stone statues to display in the entrance hall. These include 10 statues of King Senusret, statues of kings from the Ptolemaic period, the famous Saqa Stone, the Pillars of Victory in Egypt, and much more.
When small human beings shuttle through it, the shock is self-evident.
Of the nearly 60,000 artifacts that have been moved into the museum, the treasure of King Tutankhamun has attracted the most attention.
The tomb of Tutankhamun, the king of ancient Egypt who died at the age of 10 and 19, is the only well-preserved tomb in 3,300 years and represents the pinnacle of Egyptian archaeology. More than 5,000 funerary objects show how extravagant the young emperor was during his lifetime.
However, due to the insufficient size of the old Egyptian Museum, these things have not been fully displayed.
For the first time in history, Tutankhamun's funerary objects will be on display.
You will not only see the famous Tutankhamun mask, but also jewelry, costumes, daggers, Tutankhamun gilded wooden statues and other valuable heritage.
The Grand Egyptian Museum also received the fourth shrine of Tutankhamun.
Although this is the smallest shrine in Tutankhamun, it is also one of the largest artifacts in this collection transfer.
Later, the other three temples of Tutankhamun will be moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where they will be displayed in the 7,500-square-meter Tutankhamun Exhibition Hall.
Tutankhamun burial archaeology
In addition, the "Khufu Solar Boat", previously housed in the Solar Boat Museum, will also be exhibited here.
The Khufu Solar Boat is a funerary ship unearthed in the Pyramid of Khufu in 1954, and according to research, it was made around 2500 BC, more than 4,000 years ago, but it can still be navigated when put into water.
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Ancient Egyptian architecture
Although the Grand Egyptian Museum is not yet fully open to the public, the huge complex has attracted visitors from all over the world.
To build this huge museum, the Egyptian government organized the world's second largest architectural design competition, receiving 1,557 entries from 82 countries. Eventually, Irish architects Róisín Heneghan and Shi-Fu Peng and their firm, Heneghan Peng Architects, won the rights.
If the interior of the museum is a journey through time, its exterior architecture is a passage that guides people from the present to the ancient. While full of ancient Egyptian characteristics, it also has many blessings of contemporary technology.
It covers an area of 500,000 square meters, the building is a radial inverted triangle, parallel to the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Menkara to the north and south, and standing on a high place, you can directly overlook several pyramids in the distance.
Because it is located on the edge of the pyramids of Grand Giza and a highland desert in Cairo, the Grand Egyptian Museum as a whole has a height difference of 50 meters.
Taking advantage of this height difference, the 800-meter-long façade uses a translucent stone slab that not only echoes the pyramid's style, but also has a unique light and shadow effect due to its modern material.
The internal structure of the building, the design of triangles and inverted triangles, appears frequently, which is also a tribute to the internal structure of the pyramid.
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A combination of old and new
The Great Egyptian Museum is ambitious
The Egyptians know how to take advantage of the situation.
Taking advantage of the upcoming opening of the museum, they are not willing to just show their splendid ancient civilization, but also take the opportunity to promote some "new" things.
For example, in February this year, Egypt's first art fair "Cairo Art Exhibition" was held here. More than 100 artists and 25 galleries are from Egypt and the surrounding Arab region. This has greatly promoted the development of contemporary art in Egypt itself.
This was followed by more than 40 schools in Egypt to exhibit works created by more than 800 students for the Grand Egyptian Museum, "Celebrating Egyptian Heritage".
Although the students' work is not sophisticated enough, it also shows the other side of Egyptian culture.
Even more desirable is to listen to the opera at the feet of Ramses II.
Earlier, Egyptian soprano Fatma Said and conductor Nader Abbassi gave a concert at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The solemnity and solemnity of ancient civilization collide with the high-pitched exclamation of opera, which is really heartwarming.
From 2018 to 2023, the Grand Egyptian Museum has been delayed too much due to the Arab Spring, finances and the epidemic, and it also makes people look forward to one day experiencing the glory of ancient civilizations.
Let's meet together in Egypt this year.
Text, Editor/Siri110
Some sources: Egypttoday, Egyptindependent, wiki, Heneghan Peng Architects, archdaily
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