The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo officially opened to the public on November 1, 2025. Designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, the new museum sits on a 500 000sqm site on the Giza Plateau, about two kilometers from the Pyramids of Giza between the edge of Cairo and the desert.
Conceived as a new cultural and research center, the project actually has its origins in the 1990s, with an international design competition launched in 2002 which received more than 1,500 entries from 82 countries. Construction began in 2005, followed by a series of delays due to political and funding challenges, and the global pandemic in 2020. With its completion, the Grand Egyptian Museum establishes a new cultural landmark on the Giza Plateau, presenting the legacy of ancient Egyptian civilization within a contemporary architectural framework, connecting modern Cairo to its archaeological heritage and reshaping the visitor experience of one of the world’s most historically significant landscapes.
The design of the museum emphasizes horizontal continuity with the plateau. It organizes the museum through a series of visual and spatial axes aligned with the three pyramids, which maintains visual alignment with the surrounding landscape. The building’s massing follows the desert’s contours, ensuring that it remains subordinate to the aforementioned pyramids on the horizon. A translucent stone facade composed of locally sourced alabaster defines the building’s desert-facing elevation, creating a porous threshold that filters daylight and responds to the site’s natural topography. Folded ceilings and slanted translucent walls, modulate natural light and produce a consistent ambient quality suitable for conservation and display.
Offering 81,000 square meters of exhibition space, the spatial arrangement allows large-scale artifacts to be exhibited within open galleries that support flexible curation. The six-story Grand Hall contains the 3,200-year-old statue of Ramesses II. The museum features over 100,000 artifacts, making it the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization. The complete Tutankhamun collection, more than 5,000 objects including his gold funerary mask and personal belongings, is displayed together for the first time since the discovery of the pharaoh’s tomb in 1922. Other highlights include the restored Khufu solar boat, monumental sculptures of ancient rulers, and objects transferred from archaeological sites and regional museums across Egypt.
Beyond its exhibition functions, the Grand Egyptian Museum integrates research, education, and conservation facilities, including restoration laboratories, archives, and a children’s museum. Sustainable design strategies were incorporated throughout construction, including solar installations, rainwater collection, natural ventilation, and the use of local materials such as granite and marble. These measures have earned the project multiple environmental certifications, including EDGE Advance, recognizing it as the first green museum in Africa and the Middle East.
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