Egypt officially opened on Saturday the Grand Egyptian Museum, a long-awaited, billion-dollar showcase of pharaonic grandeur that Cairo hopes will revive tourism and boost its battered economy.

"Today, as we celebrate together the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, we are writing a new chapter in the history of the present and the future," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a gathering of dignitaries, sitting in the museum's square.

Spanning half a million square metres, the museum houses around 100,000 artefacts - half of them on display - dating back more than six millennia.

The audience at the opening watched a display of lights and music, with the pyramids towering in front of them.

Dozens of performers dressed in elaborate Pharaonic costumes played traditional tunes as a laser show depicting pharaohs and fireworks lit up the night sky above the museum.

On giant screens above, scenes from celebrations in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro played out against the backdrop of Egypt's ancient monuments.

"It is a living testimony to the genius of the Egyptian human," Sisi said, referring to the new institution.

'Global landmark'

On Saturday morning, roads around the museum were cordoned off and security tightened ahead of the opening, with giant banners draped from buildings and strung across streets - advertising the launch.

"This is the dream that all of us imagined. We all dreamed that this project would be realised," Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a press conference in Cairo on Saturday.

Fireworks light up the sky during the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza on Nov 1. Photo: AFP

Set on a gentle slope overlooking the Giza Plateau, just beyond the shadow of the pyramids, the museum was built with major financial and technical support from Japan, and spreads across nearly half a million square metres.

Madbouly said that the "largest part of construction, finishing and bringing this global landmark to its current form occurred during the past seven to eight years".

More than two decades in the making, the GEM faced multiple delays due to setbacks related to political unrest, regional conflicts and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The museum is billed as the world's largest collection devoted to a single civilisation, according to Egyptian officials.

Inside, visitors will enter vast, light-filled halls with soaring ceilings and sand-coloured stone walls that echo the surrounding desert.

At the centre of the main atrium stands an 83-tonne statue of Ramses II, the pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 66 years and presided over its golden age.

Unlike the cramped, century-old Egyptian Museum in central Cairo, the GEM features immersive galleries, precision lighting, virtual-reality exhibits and even a children's museum.

One highlight is a live conservation lab, visible through floor-to-ceiling glass, where visitors can watch restorers assembling a 4,500-year-old solar boat buried near Khufu's pyramid, built to carry his soul across the sky with the sun god Ra.

The museum is billed as the world's largest collection devoted to a single civilisation, according to Egyptian officials. Photo: AFP

The undisputed star of the show, however, is King Tutankhamun's collection of more than 5,000 objects, many displayed together for the first time.

'Too early to decide'

The museum opens to the public on Tuesday, showcasing thousands of funerary artefacts previously scattered across Egypt.

Egypt's tourism sector, a vital source of foreign currency and jobs, has been repeatedly shaken over the past decade and a half, from the 2011 uprising to waves of unrest and sporadic terrorist attacks in the aftermath.

In recent years, tourism has shown signs of recovery, with 15 million visitors travelling to Egypt in the first nine months of 2025 and generating US$12.5bil (RM52.4bil), up 21 percent from a year earlier.

Egyptian tourism minister Sherif Fathy expected on Saturday total tourist arrivals to stand at 18 million by the end of this year.

He told reporters the government expects the museum to draw five million visitors annually, adding that it currently welcomes 5,000 to 6,000 visitors each day.

"We hope to increase that to 15,000 daily," said Fathy.

Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist and heritage campaigner, told AFP it was "too early to decide" whether the museum would fulfil Egypt's ambitions of boosting tourism.

Observers remain cautious, saying that the museum's success will depend on a steady flow of visitors, regular maintenance and robust infrastructure.

They say that economic pressures and regional instability - including the wars in Gaza and Sudan - could challenge Egypt's hopes of turning the museum into a major driver of tourism. - AFP