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       CAIRO: Nestled near the iconic Giza pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is preparing for a lavish opening, featuring a towering statue of Ramses II and more than 100,000 artefacts, including Tutankhamun’s golden treasures.

       After two decades of planning, the GEM is set to open fully on July 3, following a partial opening in October. Its long-awaited debut comes after years of delays caused by political instability, economic crises, and the global pandemic.

       Ahmed Ghoneim, the museum’s director, said the inauguration could span several days, with celebrations extending beyond the museum and pyramids to sites across Egypt and even abroad. “It will be a spectacular showcase of Egypt’s historical and touristic potential,” Ghoneim told Egypt’s ON TV.

       President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has invited US President Donald Trump and Spain’s King Felipe VI to attend the ceremony. “This museum is the (world’s) largest museum for a single civilisation, which is the Pharaonic civilisation,” Sisi said in December.

       Spanning 50 hectares (120 acres), the GEM is twice the size of both Paris’s Louvre and New York’s Metropolitan, and two and a half times the British Museum, according to its director.

       “The landscape of Egypt contributed to this rich civilisation and we wanted to reflect that in the design,” said Roisin Heneghan, co-founder of Dublin-based Heneghan Peng Architects — the firm behind the museum’s design. “You see the pieces in the museum in the context of the pyramids. You are reminded of the place where this all happened,” she said.

       Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2025