Egypt is building a
$1-billion mega-museum
Will it bring Egyptology home?
For 100 years, Egypt’s scientists have watched as their nation’s story was largely told by institutions from Europe and the United States.
Can a stunning new museum change that narrative?
An aerial view of the Great Pyramid of Giza (bottom), built by the pharaoh Khufu, showing its proximity to the Grand Egyptian Museum site (top). Credit: Amir Makar/AFP Via Getty
Two kilometres north of the Pyramids of Giza, around 20 minutes’ drive from the centre of Cairo, is a sprawling complex that opens a gateway to the past. When it opens fully, the Grand Egyptian Museum will be the world’s largest such facility devoted to a single civilization. The site occupies 500,000 square metres, or the size of about 80 football fields. A new airport, Sphinx International, has been built to serve those visiting the pyramids and the museum. A small section of the museum is open, and the whole facility is due to be inaugurated later this year.
Visitors are greeted by a colossal statue of Ramses II, the third pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty, who ruled Egypt for nearly seven decades. Twice a year, the Sun’s rays beam down onto the face of this 3,200-year-old statue in the museum’s lobby. This effect is intended to mirror a solar alignment phenomenon on another Ramses II statue, at the Abu Simbel temple in Nubia, southwest of Aswan, where sunlight falls on the face of the statue on the king’s birthday and on coronation day.
An aerial view of the Great Pyramid of Giza (bottom), built by the pharaoh Khufu, showing its proximity to the Grand Egyptian Museum site (top). Credit: Amir Makar/AFP Via Getty
An aerial view of the Great Pyramid of Giza (bottom), built by the pharaoh Khufu, showing its proximity to the Grand Egyptian Museum site (top). Credit: Amir Makar/AFP Via Getty
To the left of the lobby is the Grand Staircase. This comprises 108 steps rising to a height of 26 metres and it is lined with statues and sculptures denoting mystical temples and burial and funeral rites. At the top of the staircase is a panoramic vista of the Giza plateau and its iconic pyramids. That sight — and the museum itself — is intended to change how the world sees Egypt, and how Egypt sees the world.
“It’s a world museum in alignment with the British Museum and the Louvre,” says Shirin Frangoul-Brückner, an architect and co-founder of the firm Atelier Brückner in Stuttgart, Germany, which has designed key parts of the museum’s interior. The museum has the potential to inspire and train a new generation of research leaders from Egypt, says Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, who is based in Aswan.
The museum has been funded through US$950 million in loans from Japan, which must be repaid. Ultimate control over its design and operations, including its research functions, rests with the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority. With such an array of influences, many scholars wonder how this museum devoted to Egypt’s past will shape the country’s future.
Colossal scale
The golden death mask of Tutankhamun, who was pharaoh during the eighteenth dynasty. Credit: Amir Makar/AFP via Getty
The museum’s extent is immediately evident to any visitor. It will showcase more than 50,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts — some 30,000 of which have not been displayed before.
Its star attraction will be the treasures of the boy king Tutankhamun, the pharaoh who ruled in 1332–1323 BC during the late eighteenth dynasty. The tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor more than 100 years ago, but only now will the complete collection of some 5,000 burial artefacts be displayed, including his golden thrones, rings, magical amulets, decorated boxes, chariots and famous golden funerary mask. Only one-third of these have so far been exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, in Tahrir Square. The treasures will be on display in two galleries designed by Atelier Brückner and will reveal elements of Tutankhamun’s lifestyle and royal fashion during that period.
The golden death mask of Tutankhamun, who was pharaoh during the eighteenth dynasty. Credit: Amir Makar/AFP via Getty
The golden death mask of Tutankhamun, who was pharaoh during the eighteenth dynasty. Credit: Amir Makar/AFP via Getty
Credit: Courtesy of BESIX
Research revealed
Nesrin Kharboush, head of the inorganic lab at the museum’s conservation centre.
Nesrin Kharboush, head of the inorganic lab at the museum’s conservation centre.
Nesrin Kharboush, head of the inorganic lab at the museum’s conservation centre.
The museum also houses one of the world’s biggest archaeological conservation research centres. This opened in 2010, and by 2017, some 40,000 artefacts had been transported there to undergo restorations in preparation for moving them to their new home. Both the museum and the conservation centre aim to boost local research on the artefacts, with a target of producing 20 papers each year about their archaeology, preservation and restoration.
Some 144 conservators and researchers — 66 of whom are women — work in 17 specialized laboratories 10 metres below ground. They use non-destructive methods to restore artefacts, including mummies and items made of stone, metal, leather, textiles, glass and papyrus, while analysing their historical and cultural significance. The aim is to determine the appropriate environmental conditions, such as exposure to light, humidity and temperature, that will prevent an object from deteriorating1. “The accumulated experience is immense,” says Tarek Tawfik, an archaeologist at the University of Cairo and a former director of the museum.
The core of their work is around Tutankhamun’s treasures, some 70% of which have not been analysed scientifically. “This very famous find has been under-published in a way,” says Marleen De Meyer, assistant director for archaeology and Egyptology at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. “Most of the objects have never had a scientific publication,” she says.
Conservators at the Grand Egyptian Museum restore a collection of pottery from Hetepheres, queen of Egypt during the fourth dynasty.
Conservators at the Grand Egyptian Museum restore a collection of pottery from Hetepheres, queen of Egypt during the fourth dynasty.
A conservator at the inorganic lab works on pottery from the reign of Hetepheres, whose tomb was discovered at Giza in 1925. She was mother to king Khufu, the pyramid builder.
A conservator at the inorganic lab works on pottery from the reign of Hetepheres, whose tomb was discovered at Giza in 1925. She was mother to king Khufu, the pyramid builder.
A conservator works on a bronze lion sculpture that was previously displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
A conservator works on a bronze lion sculpture that was previously displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The conservation centre’s researchers use non-destructive methods to restore artefacts.
The conservation centre’s researchers use non-destructive methods to restore artefacts.
Armour analysis
Safwat Mohamed Sayed, head of the organic lab.
Safwat Mohamed Sayed, head of the organic lab.
Safwat Mohamed Sayed, head of the organic lab.
On the day of Nature’s visit, researchers at the organic lab at the conservation research centre are hard at work. One of their achievements is the conservation and restoration of a suit of armour belonging to Tutankhamun. The armour is made from fabric and animal hide and will be on display for the first time.
It is unique because it is the most complete example of armour from the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age (3300 to 1200 BC). For many years, researchers had seen pictures of ancient Egyptian armour only in battle scenes on temple walls.
The armour was designed to fit over the king’s chest and back like a sleeveless tunic and was originally made from about 4,000 small, shield-shaped pieces of rawhide that overlapped to form a fish-scale pattern.
Now, only one-quarter of the armour remains, and it was in a poor state when it arrived at the lab. Storage in high humidity had led to microbiological contamination of the materials, causing a rotting smell. Safwat Mohamed Sayed, head of the organic lab, and his team identified three categories of fungus and two types of bacterium with different cell walls on the armour. They published their findings earlier this year2.
When the armour was discovered in 1922, it was not considered important, but it was covered in castor oil, celluloid and paraffin wax in a failed attempt to prevent it from deteriorating. This caused more damage to the scales, forming a thin white layer, according to the study. The museum’s researchers used a variety of conservation techniques to treat the armour and separate the scales that were stuck together.
Tutankhamun's armour, made of cattle hide and linen, was in a state of decay because of high humidity and contamination by bacteria and fungi.
Tutankhamun's armour, made of cattle hide and linen, was in a state of decay because of high humidity and contamination by bacteria and fungi.
Egyptologist Salima Ikram at the American University in Cairo, who is not involved with the museum, and her colleagues had previously analysed3 the thickness of the scales and suggested that they were made of untreated cattle hide. This material, although not as protective as bronze plates, would have afforded Tutankhamun greater mobility in battle than metal armour, but it’s not known if the rawhide armour was used in his lifetime, or if it was ceremonial garb for his burial.
Sayed and his conservation team imaged the armour using ultraviolet light, but found no blood stains or evidence of weapon strikes2. They also shot arrows into a replica of the armour from different distances to see how far they penetrated; these results have not yet been published. The arrows, fired from a distance of 12 metres at a speed of 120 kilometres per hour, failed to penetrate the replica, but an arrow shot from 2 metres away did. Researchers have told Nature that an attack on the king at such close range would have been unlikely. That said, “the absence of blood stains and arrow holes in the armour isn’t evidence that Tutankhamun didn’t use it in battle”, says Bob Brier, an Egyptologist at Long Island University in New York City. “It is evidence that he didn’t get shot.”
The conservation team is working on another item that has not been displayed before — one of Tutankhamun’s tunics, made of dyed linen. The garment has been damaged by moisture and the high temperatures inside the tomb. By looking for signs of wear and tear or traces of chemicals used for washing it, the team’s analysis will reveal whether the boy king wore the tunic in his everyday life or if it was a funeral costume.
Conservator Enas Mohamed (left) restores a linen tunic that belonged to Tutankhamun.
Conservator Enas Mohamed (left) restores a linen tunic that belonged to Tutankhamun.
Hussein Kamal points to a microscope image of the tunic to explain how the team analyses the garment’s composition and condition.
Hussein Kamal points to a microscope image of the tunic to explain how the team analyses the garment’s composition and condition.
Tutankhamun’s tunic was damaged by moisture and the high temperatures inside his tomb.
Tutankhamun’s tunic was damaged by moisture and the high temperatures inside his tomb.
Enas Mohamed studies the tunic to determine whether it was used in Tutankhamun’s daily life or if it was a funeral costume.
Enas Mohamed studies the tunic to determine whether it was used in Tutankhamun’s daily life or if it was a funeral costume.
The vulture goddess
For the first time, visitors will also be able to see a restored collar, shaped to represent the vulture goddess Nekhbet, that was found on the neck of Tutankhamun’s mummy. The collar has been studied4 by the conservation centre’s researchers, including Abdelaziz Elmarazky, a conservator at the inorganic lab. Its wings are stretched around the king’s neck as a symbol of protection. The item is understood to have been a funeral collar that was not worn during the king’s lifetime.
Using various imaging tools and analyses, the lab’s conservators have revealed the collar’s original shape and colours. They discovered that the collar was missing some blue beads that had been documented when the collar was found in 1925; the item was then kept in a small box in the storage rooms of the Tahrir Square museum. Some red and turquoise opaque glass had fallen off, and several of its golden plaques were missing small gold eyelets.
The conservation team also noticed that the original craftspeople had inscribed numbers on the reverse of the collar’s beads. The researchers dismantled the collar and reassembled it according to the sequence originally set by ancient Egyptian goldsmiths.
Cruising to an afterlife
The museum is also the new home for two boats that belonged to Khufu, a pharaoh in the fourth dynasty some 4,600 years ago, one of which has never been displayed in public.
Khufu’s first boat dates back 4,600 years and is understood to be the world’s oldest surviving wooden vessel.
Khufu’s first boat dates back 4,600 years and is understood to be the world’s oldest surviving wooden vessel.
Built from Lebanese cedar, the boats were discovered by Egyptian archaeologist Kamal El-Mallakh near the southern side of the Great Pyramid in 1954.
The first boat was in relatively good condition and was displayed after reconstruction in a small museum near the Great Pyramid. It is understood to be the world’s oldest surviving wooden ship-like structure. It weighs 45 tonnes and is 44 metres long and 6 metres wide. In 2021, the intact vessel was transported very slowly in a massive, custom-built metal box5. What would usually be a 20-minute journey took a whole day and was an international event, streamed live. Once the boat arrived in its new location, the team built a structure to house it.
Brier and his colleagues made a two-metre model of the boat and tested it in a tank to see what it can do. They found that the boat is unlikely to have been used by the pharaoh to sail. “There’s no sail and mast. Also the oars that were with it were not powerful enough to move the boat,” says Brier. Their study6 suggested that the boat was a funeral barge designed to cross the Nile. “It was used to take the body of Khufu from the east bank, the land of the living, to the west bank, the land of the dead,” says Brier.
A conservator works on restoring wooden pieces of Khufu’s second boat.
A conservator works on restoring wooden pieces of Khufu’s second boat.
Khufu’s second boat had been dismantled into small pieces by ancient Egyptians and was buried south of the Great Pyramid in Giza.
The second boat had been dismantled into small pieces by ancient Egyptians and buried in pits south of the Great Pyramid, then covered with massive limestone slabs. A joint Egyptian–Japanese research team has so far excavated 1,700 wooden pieces of the boat and is working on restoring and reconstructing it7.
The researchers have found 8 steering oars, 52 oars for rowing and distinct copper fixtures, suggesting that it could have been used in water, according to Eissa Zeidan, who leads the team responsible for restoring the second boat. “The second boat might have been used to pull and drag the first boat behind it,” he adds. It is likely that it would have taken more than 50 people to move the boat down the Nile, according to a study by Kanan Yoshimura at the American University in Cairo7.
Khufu’s second boat had been dismantled into small pieces by ancient Egyptians and was buried south of the Great Pyramid in Giza.
Khufu’s second boat had been dismantled into small pieces by ancient Egyptians and was buried south of the Great Pyramid in Giza.
A military affair
Notwithstanding these and other achievements, the museum’s progress has not been all plain sailing. The idea was first proposed in the 1990s, when it became clear that the Tahrir Square museum had become too small to accommodate the 7,000 daily visitors.
The Egyptian government secured loans from Japan for a new museum, and some 1,550 architects from 83 countries submitted design concepts for a competition overseen by the United Nations culture and science agency UNESCO and the International Union of Architects. Dublin-based architects Heneghan Peng were chosen in 2003, with a 2009 target date for completion.
The project has been beset with delays and changes to its administration, although for reasons outside its control. First came the Arab Spring protests against authoritarian rule that swept the Middle East in 2010–12. In 2016, a team of engineers led by Atef Moftah, an architect and a major-general in Egypt’s army, took over supervision of the museum project. This was followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and an ensuing economic crisis.
Atef Moftah (right), and Eissa Zeidan, who leads the team restoring Khufu’s second boat.
Atef Moftah (right), and Eissa Zeidan, who leads the team restoring Khufu’s second boat.
It is not uncommon for the armed forces to run big projects in countries where public institutions are weak. Moftah told Nature: “Previously, the ship had many captains and was going in circles, not moving in a straight line.” “As a military man, I have a mission and this mission must be accomplished successfully.”
Brier is also not surprised that the army is involved. “The military is involved in everything in Egypt,” he explains. It also owns companies and the museum is likely to be big business, Brier adds. Tourism is a crucial source of foreign currency and employment for Egypt’s struggling economy, and brought in $13.6 billion in the 2022–23 financial year. The museum is expected to generate about $55 million per year in admissions from an estimated 5 million visitors per year.
Some researchers whom Nature spoke to questioned how long the nation’s armed forces would be running the museum and research centre for. Zahi Hawass, a former Egyptian minister for antiquities, says the army is helping during construction and will leave after it opens fully. “The museum cannot be planned by army people,” he says.
Others, who asked not to be named, are concerned about the military’s previous use of museums in Egypt. The 122-year-old Tahrir Square museum was used to detain protesters during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. Moftah declined to answer Nature’s questions about when the military will withdraw from the new museum after it opens.
Protesters in front of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring in February 2011. Credit: Andre Pain/EPA/Shutterstock
Protesters in front of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring in February 2011. Credit: Andre Pain/EPA/Shutterstock
Writing Egypt’s story
Howard Carter (left) and aristocrat George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter’s excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Credit: GraphicaArtis/Getty
One of the museum’s aims is to take back some control of the study of Egyptology, a field that has long been entangled with historical colonialism. Most excavations and research in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were conducted by people from Europe and the United States during periods when Egypt was under the control of external authorities.
“We’ve managed to keep the collection of Tutankhamun, but still colonialism stripped us of the agency to produce knowledge about our past,” says Hanna. Western archaeologists framed the narrative of ancient Egyptian history in a way that was barely accessible to Egyptians, because most publications were in European languages. Even the term Egyptology — which covers a period of history that excludes the country’s Christian and Islamic eras — was coined by scholars from Europe.
Tutankhamun’s tomb was famously discovered in November 1922 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. The aristocrat George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter’s excavation, gave the exclusive rights to the Tutankhamun story to The Times newspaper in London. “Egyptian journalists couldn’t find out about the discovery, except for the London Times, and that caused the real furore,” says Brier.
Although for some researchers, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb marked the beginning of the end of colonial-era Egyptology, it was not until 1970 that Cairo University opened a stand-alone college for the study of archaeology, followed by a department for conservation studies seven years later. Even today, Egypt’s archaeological research capacity does not compare with that of high-income countries. The team behind the museum told Nature that it is determined to change this.
Howard Carter (left) and aristocrat George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter’s excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Credit: GraphicaArtis/Getty
Howard Carter (left) and aristocrat George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter’s excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Credit: GraphicaArtis/Getty
Restitution
Researchers in Egypt say the opening of the museum needs to be accompanied by a plan to return artefacts to the nation, including archive materials. Although laws against the export of antiquities have existed in Egypt since at least 1835, many ancient Egyptian treasures have been shipped abroad, populating more than 350 institutions in 27 countries on 5 continents8.
“The real problem is that Howard Carter exported all his excavation notes to the Griffith Institute,” which is based at the University of Oxford, UK, says Hanna. “I think that the archive should come back from the Griffith Institute. This should also be part of the exhibition of the Tutankhamun objects,” she adds. “We cannot produce knowledge about the past without these archives, because then we’re just dealing with objects from the ground, not with something that has been thoroughly excavated and documented.”
The institute’s deputy director, Richard Parkinson, told Nature that the archive is in a fragile condition but that “requests for repatriation would always be welcome”. The archive has been digitized and is free to access, although images are of low resolution. The museum can provide high-resolution images at no cost to Egyptian researchers, he adds.
Hanna is also calling for systemic changes to Egyptology, beyond individual projects or institutions such as the Grand Egyptian Museum. “What would really help decolonize Egyptology is not necessarily a big museum, but putting in place policies that empower academics to actually excavate and produce knowledge about the past. That does not exist.”
“Unless we have financial independence to be able to carry out our excavations, conservation projects, site-management or public archaeology projects, we cannot really decolonize Egyptology,” says Hanna.
Ikram is hopeful. “What the museum offers with its state-of-the-art labs, and some really kick-ass scientists, is that people can collaborate, people can carry out work. But one should not just do bells-and-whistles science, one should have real research questions and be able to address them to move the discipline and our understanding of ancient Egypt forward,” she says.
But for others, including Ikram, efforts to reclaim a national narrative of Egyptology should not come at the expense of cancelling researchers who come from outside Egypt. “To learn about ancient Egypt is not for any one culture, or one group. Knowledge transcends, science and research transcends nationalistic boundaries,” she says.
The museum is “a big leap forward in the field of research, nationally and internationally”, says Tawfik. “It has the potential to really take research concerning Egyptology and conservation to new dimensions in Egypt, in cooperation with Egyptology and conservation all around the world. Before, “archaeology was in the hands of foreigners”, says Hawass. “Now it’s in our hands.”
References
- Kamal, H. M., Elkhial, M. M. & Tawfik, T. S. Stud. Conserv. 63 (Suppl. 1), 138–145 (2018).
- Mohamed Sayed, S., Metawi, R., Alshoky, A. & Kamal, H. J. Gen. Union Arab Archaeol. 9, 110–126 (2024).
- Veldmeijer, A. J., Hulit, L., Skinner, A. & Ikram, S. J. Anc. Near-East. Soc. Ex Oriente Lux 48, 125–156 (2022).
- Elmarazky, A., Kharboush, N., Abdrabou, A. & Kamal, H. in Proc. 20th Int. Counc. Mus. Comm. Conserv. Trienn. Conf. (Valencia, Spain) abstr. 140 (ICOM-CC, 2023).
- Hamza, N. et al. in Proc. 20th Int. Counc. Mus. Comm. Conserv. Trienn. Conf. (Valencia, Spain) abstr. 183 (ICOM-CC, 2023).
- Brier, B., Morabito, M. G. & Greene, S. J. Am. Res. Center Egypt 56, 83–99 (2021).
- Yoshimura, K. A Comparative Study between Khufu’s First and Second Boats in Respect of their Materials, Archaeological Conditions, and Conservation. Master’s thesis, American Univ. Cairo (2022).
- Stevenson, A. Scattered Finds: Archaeology, Egyptology and Museums (UCL Press, 2019).
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