A first look at the Great Egyptian Museum, set to be the most exciting opening in modern times

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“The more you know about them, the more besotted you get.”

Egypt’s deputy minister of tourism is gazing throughout the plateau of Giza as he describes the unforgettable sight of the Great Pyramid, proudly pushing out of the desert in entrance of him.

Dark shadows of clouds climb up the sandy sides, solely to roll off once more, leaving the pyramids shining in the identical vibrant yellow as the sand which lies throughout, dominating the horizon as they level to the heavens above.

A smile stretching his cheeks large, Mohamed Salama runs by way of a few of the massively bold plans to rework Cairo’s tourism, together with the opening of the Great Egyptian Museum.

We are sharing an Egyptian combined grill lunch at the 9 Pyramids restaurant, camouflaged into the Giza desert plateau and overlooking considered one of the world’s most well-known landmarks.

Out of sight, on the northern facet of the pyramids and the sphinx, is the 120-acre web site of the long-delayed however highly-anticipated £1 billion Japanese-funded museum – the largest archaeological museum in the world with 872,000 square-feet of floorspace.

It will be dwelling to 100,000 artefacts, together with 5,398 objects from the legendary Tutankhamun assortment, that includes highlights reminiscent of the iconic loss of life masks of the boy king in addition to his golden throne.

More than 100 years since the world was gripped by the excavations of British archaeologist Howard Carter, who uncovered considered one of the best historic discoveries, Egypt is making ready a remaining resting place worthy of the legendary king’s possessions.

The roof of the sand-coloured compound slopes down to earth like a ray of daylight from the sky, which is interrupted by a pyramid of darkish stone that acts as the grand entrance to the museum.

Once inside, I’m greeted in the luxuriously huge foyer by the 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II – at 11 metres, it’s so tall that it had to be put in when the web site was nonetheless a pile of sand, and the museum was then constructed round it.

Although the opening date for the museum nonetheless has not been confirmed, I’ve been invited by easyJet Holidays to have a sneak preview of what the Egyptian vacationer authority is promising to be considered one of the finest historic collections in the world.

The go to begins with a 360-degree immersive cinema expertise, which pulls us again in time and into the legend of King Tut, taking us on a digital journey to the Valley of the Kings and into his tomb, which is recreated in the vibrant yellows, reds and greens of the authentic hieroglyphics – as contemporary as the day they had been initially painted for his loss of life in 1323BC.

Afterwards, I return to the foyer to start the ascent of the Grand Staircase, which echoes a facet of the pyramids which had been designed as a pathway to the heavens for the god kings buried in their lavish tombs inside.

At each stage as I ascend, I’m met by an array of statues, sarcophagi and tablets, which inform the story of the kings and queens of Egypt, earlier than I attain the remaining degree depicting the ages-old goal of all the kings – eternity.

Here is the entrance to the gallery devoted to Tutankhamen – whose title will certainly reside ceaselessly – and a large window offering an awe-inspiring view of the three major pyramids of Giza on the horizon.

Unfortunately that is the place the go to ends at current till an opening date is lastly introduced, at present thought to be later this yr. Delays have been brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Arab Spring disaster in 2011, and now it seems that the Israel-Gaza struggle has had an extra affect on the opening date.

However, earlier than I go away the museum, archaeologist Tarek Sarhan reveals one final secret.

A small window has been created above the entrance to enable a ray of solar to shine instantly on to the big Ramses II statue twice a yr, in the identical manner that the ancients designed his tomb for a ray to shine on the faces of the Holiest of Holies alongside the again wall.

This will subsequent occur on October 22 – might this scene match for an Indiana Jones film be the second the museum is lastly opened?

Eager to set my eyes on the Tutankhamen artefacts, Tarek takes me to their present dwelling in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which nonetheless has the light allure of the colonial period of when it was established in 1902.

With its hundreds of dusty reveals scattered round the many halls and galleries, the museum has the environment of a warehouse greater than an exhibition giving me the feeling that I’m making the discoveries for myself.

To enter the Tutankhamen room, I jostle with an impatient queue earlier than lastly squeezing into the darkened gallery, with warning cries of ‘No photo’ and ‘Keep moving’ being bellowed repeatedly by the museum guards. But even the cramped and boisterous circumstances can’t dampen the shining glory of the loss of life masks, well-known to the world however whose affect and sweetness can solely be felt in individual. Soon, these treasures will be transferred to the pristine new museum, leaving the chaos and mud behind.

The Egyptian vacationer authority is placing in place widespread plans to make the new museum and the pyramids with the Sphinx extra accessible, with a brand new airport opened close by and a 18-lane motorway linking the metropolis. But additionally it is making an attempt to rejuvenate the metropolis itself with the creation of a lake and park surrounding the just lately opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, which is dwelling to the Mummies Hall.

The 22 mummies, together with 18 kings and 4 queens, had been transferred in April 2021 from the previous museum in a procession accompanied with monumental pomp and circumstance by way of the metropolis’s streets.

Not that it’s only these newly-built points of interest that make Cairo a must-see, fairly a pit-stop on the manner to the different major reveals in Luxor and Abu Simbel. Tarek additionally reveals me, in accordance to legend, the resting place of Jesus and the Virgin Mary throughout their exile as they fled from King Herod at the Coptic Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.

And that is subsequent door to the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which is on the web site the place the child Moses was discovered on the Nile, though the river has lengthy retreated from this space.

Tarek additionally takes me to the stunning Sultan Hassan and El Refai mosques and the spectacular Mohamed Ali Mosque in the Citadel of Salah El Din, which dominates the skyline of the bustling metropolis.

As dusty and intimidating as the metropolis may be, which is unfathomably dwelling to 25 million folks, it’s not tough to discover oases of calm – reminiscent of the Waldorf Astoria Heliopolis Hotel the place I’m staying.

Its spacious atrium, tall sufficient to incorporate a number of palm timber, acts as a welcome and peaceable barrier to the incessant horn-beeping of the clogged roads past.

And as the metropolis buildings are modernising, evidently the sense of customer support can be catching up.

Egyptians have been much-maligned for his or her hard-sell strategies, however as I stroll by way of the streets of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, I’m solely greeted with smiles and nothing extra pushy than the jokey slogan parroted by the sellers: “How can I take your money from you today?”

It is that this rising sense of the significance of tourism, plus rising demand for the different Egyptian locations of Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, that led easyJet to launch final October a brand new year-round three-times per week flight to the new Cairo Sphinx airport from London Luton flying Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

And as I head dwelling after a protracted weekend keep, the minister’s phrases echo in my head – and I realise that I too have grow to be besotted by the legend of the pyramids.