The Grand Egyptian Museum, home to 100,000 ancient artifacts, has opened in Cairo more than 20 years after construction began.
The project cost $3 billion and was disrupted by the 2011 revolution and a coup d’etat in 2013. It is part of Egypt’s plan to attract tourism, which has been resurgent after years of political upheaval.
A record 15 million people visited in 2024, and the country hopes to double that by 2030.
The museum’s centerpiece will be a 30-foot statue of Pharaoh Ramses II, ancient Egypt’s most famous ruler, but the museum is intended to prop up the current regime, a former worker told Le Monde, and to make “ancient Egypt resonate with that of modern Egypt.”