The Grand Egyptian Museum at One: Five Million Visits and a New Light Show, Eternal Sun

A year ago, the Grand Egyptian Museum opened its doors officially on the Giza plateau, and on Sunday, November 1, 2026, it marked its first anniversary. The numbers are remarkable. Dr. Ahmed Ghoneim, the museum's chief executive, told Arab News that the museum received between 5.2 and 5.3 million visits in its first year, and welcomed some 60 official delegations. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities had already counted about four million visitors between the opening and the end of August.

Described by Xinhua as the world's largest museum devoted to a single civilization, it took more than two decades to complete and covers about 500,000 square meters. It has 40,000 square meters of exhibition space, and a restoration center of 32,000 square meters with 16 laboratories, described as the largest in the Middle East.

The Tutankhamun Galleries remain the heart of the visit. More than 5,000 objects from the boy king's tomb are displayed together for the first time, in 7,500 square meters of galleries, gathered from storage, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and the Luxor Museum, and presented as Howard Carter's team found them in 1922. Dr. Tarek Tawfik, the museum's former director, told Arab News that the world's fascination with them is unbroken.

Beyond them, the Main Galleries trace Egyptian beliefs, society and kingship from prehistory to the Greco-Roman period, the Grand Staircase lines its steps with statues of kings and gods, and Khufu's Boat Museum shows the 4,600-year-old solar boat of the builder of the Great Pyramid, 43 meters long. Highlights photographed for the anniversary include the golden mask of Tutankhamun, his gilded coffin and golden throne, and the Hanging Obelisk of Ramesses II.