5 Highlights of Egypt's New Grand Egyptian Museum

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) has been more than two decades in the making, a feat of patience that invites comparison with the nearby Great Pyramid of Giza. Its recent unveiling proves, once again, that good things come to those who wait.

Fully opened to the public in November 2025, the $1.2bn (£885m) institution on the outskirts of Cairo houses the world’s largest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts in a single museum. Yet, at roughly twice the size of the Louvre in Paris and with about 50,000 artefacts on display across 12 galleries that span prehistory to the Roman era, it’s nearly impossible to see everything in a single day.

Instead, it’s better to slow down and focus on a handful of key exhibits that illuminate the wonders of ancient Egypt, set within this thoroughly modern museum. Here’s what you shouldn’t miss, according to tour guide and Egyptologist Andrew Shnouda.

1. Statue of Ramesses II

As visitors step past the museum’s hieroglyph-adorned facade and into the echoing entrance hall, they’re met by the colossal figure of Ramesses II. The 3,200-year-old statue of one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs stands 11 metres tall. Discovered in 1820 broken in six pieces, it was reassembled and displayed for decades in downtown Cairo. When the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) broke ground, it was the first object brought here, and the museum was built around it.

2. Mask of Tutankhamun

The 1922 discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun ignited a worldwide frenzy of interest in the history and art of ancient Egypt. More than 5,000 objects from the boy king’s tomb are on display in the GEM. The undisputed star is the kohl-eyed funerary mask, buried with Tutankhamun’s mummy, crafted in solid gold. Following accidental damage to its braided beard in 2014, it’s been meticulously restored and now gleams in a glass case before a snaking queue.

3. Khufu’s Solar Boat

Solar Boat Dating to around 2500 BCE and constructed from cedar wood, the boat of King Khufu was discovered in some 1,200 pieces beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu in 1954. Now displayed in a vast two-storey gallery with elevated viewing platforms, it was painstakingly reassembled using archaeological records. Ancient Egyptians believed the pharaoh would join the sun god Ra on his cosmic journey across the heavens after death, so archaeologists named it a ‘solar boat’.

(Related: The Essential Guide to Visiting Cairo.)

4. Statue of Hatshepsut

The story behind this granite statue is truly remarkable. One of the few women to assume full pharaonic power, Hatshepsut ruled during the 18th Dynasty, around 1470 BCE, when kingship was firmly a man’s domain. To legitimise her authority, Hatshepsut presented herself in official art and inscriptions as a male ruler, adopting masculine titles and even donning a false beard — as this statue depicts. She’s remembered for a largely peaceful reign.

5. Ostraca – Records of Daily Life

While Egypt’s celebrated rulers tend to command the spotlight, the stories of the workers who toiled in the shadows of the great pyramids often remain overlooked. But the New Kingdom galleries have cabinets crammed with ostraca — broken flakes of pottery covered in graffiti-like inscriptions. A far cheaper alternative to sheets of papyrus, ostraca were used to record the comings and goings of daily life. Unearthed near Luxor, many of those housed within GEM date back more than 3,000 years. The collection includes records of everyday admin, such as tallies noting workmen absent through illness. And there’s even a fragment featuring someone grumbling about their mother-in-law.

(Discover more: 7 Priceless Artifacts You Won't Find at the Grand Egyptian Museum.)