After more than ten years of delays, anticipation, and announcements, the Grand Egyptian Museum—also known as GEM—has opened the doors to its most awaited gallery: the vast Tutankhamun treasure collection. The new museum, fully inaugurated in early November, was conceived to be the world’s largest museum devoted to a single civilization, and guides already nickname it simply “the Tutankhamun Museum,” because that is the principal reason visitors come and fall in love with it.
The crowd was immediately beyond any forecast: Egyptian visitors and travelers from all over the world rushed to buy tickets, to the point that ticket sales had to be temporarily halted. Yes, let’s be patient and plan carefully, because this museum that faces directly onto the Giza plateau, with a view of the Pyramids, is absolutely worth seeing. We’ve been there, and here are our impressions.
A museum within the museum
The GEM complex spans over more than 500,000 square meters in total (with 30,000 square meters of exhibition space) and houses twelve main halls. Unlike Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, which follows a chronological order (and still houses some of the most important relics of ancient Egypt), the GEM’s exhibition route is thematic: the grand Entrance Staircase immediately invites visitors on a symbolic journey through four stages dedicated to the figure of the pharaoh across his eras; to the ceremonial spaces featuring colossal statues, columns, and sphinxes; to the pharaoh’s relationship with the gods, and to eternity and rebirth through the sarcophagi. The other galleries are also divided into three major threads: society, royalty, and belief.
Of all the halls, the most evocative is unquestionably the one devoted to the young pharaoh Tutankhamun, occupying 7,500 square meters. The display comprises more than 5,000 artifacts, many of which have never been shown to the public before: some came from the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square; others were retrieved from storerooms where they had lain for decades. In the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, only the mummy and the quartzite sarcophagus remain.
Beyond the threshold of the hall of the Boy King (so named because he ascended the throne of Egypt at the age of nine), the atmosphere shifts completely. Low lighting, a black backdrop, and golden reflections create an intimate, almost sacred ambiance. It is here that the artifacts discovered on November 4, 1922 by Howard Carter before the tomb in the Valley of the Kings are finally gathered together. Six gilded chariots, ceremonial staffs, weapons, jewelry, and personal objects tell the life and death of a fragile and enigmatic king.
The Pharaoh Who Became a Legend
But let’s take a step back to learn about the pharaoh and truly grasp the essence of this treasure.
Who Was Tutankhamun
Despite his reputation today, Tutankhamun was not a powerful pharaoh. As a child, sickly and frail, he died young, likely from complications after a fall, leaving no wars or major constructions behind. What made him immortal was not his reign but the luck of history: his tomb was the only one found untouched in the Valley of the Kings, and “only” for this reason did he become the focal point of his dynasty and of ancient Egypt. This, in turn, allows us to say with some certainty that the treatment reserved for Tutankhamun was customary for “minor” pharaohs as well: what we can see in the gallery is not an exceptional treasure, but the funeral equipment that any pharaoh deserved for his journey toward the sun.
The Serendipitous Discovery
Tutankhamun’s name lingered in obscurity for years. In 1909, a vase bearing his cartouche was found, rekindling archaeologists’ interest. The real turning point came in 1922 when Howard Carter discovered the entrance to the boy king’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, buried beneath debris from the excavations of Ramses V and Ramses VI.
According to guides, the discovery was happenstance: a child with his donkey knocked over some water, and from the damp earth a step emerged. Carter was notified and the dig began: step after step led to a wall with two statues. Behind that wall, something extraordinary unfolded: an antechamber filled with parade chariots, statues, ritual beds, and gilded chests. Beyond that room lay four large gilded canopied coffins, one inside another like a Matryoshka doll, disassemblable and made of Lebanese cedar, which enclosed three sarcophagi stacked on top of one another, the last of which was in solid gold. Inside, the young king’s mummy wore the famous Golden Mask, crafted from eleven kilograms of gold and semi-precious stones: an icon in the world of ancient Egypt.
The Treasure on Display at the GEM
Upon entering the hall, the eye is drawn to the first of the four canopied coffins, arranged in a row, one after another, as if guiding visitors along an initiatory path. The first, in gold and turquoise, is decorated with the Isis Knot (tyet), a symbol of femininity and rebirth, protection, and the continuity of life. It is open, revealing an interior equally precious, adorned with inscriptions and imagery related to the pharaoh’s journey in the afterlife.
The second coffin depicts the protective deities that accompany the king on his passage to the afterlife. The golden hieroglyphs gleam under the room’s subdued lighting, while winged figures of gods embrace the tomb. Continuing along, the three sarcophagus coffins appear, made of wood and gold and finely inlaid with lapis lazuli, turquoise, and coral. The smallest, entirely in solid gold, is the most precious and monumental, widely regarded by guides as even more precious than the famous mask.
The room also houses the canopic jars holder, featuring the jackal-headed Anubis figure, a symbol of the protection of the dead, and the sacrarium of canopic vases, which contained the mummified organs in small coffins. A little further on, the ceremonial statues of the king (or Tutankhamun’s Ka statues), armed with a mace and staff, stand facing each other to embody the principle of duality and symmetry, a fundamental and repeated idea in Egyptian cosmology.
At the center of the hall, within a glass case visible from all sides, shines the Gold Mask of Tutankhamun. Created with more than eleven kilograms of solid gold and inlaid with lapis lazuli, quartz, obsidian, and turquoise, it presents the young king’s face with idealized yet human features. The nemes, the striped blue-and-gold headdress, and the uraeus—the cobra rising on the forehead—symbolize power and divine protection.
In nearby showcases are displayed the jewels and personal items of the pharaoh: pectorals adorned with Horus’s falcon, gold belts, finely chiseled sandals, ceremonial staffs, and bird-hunting boomerangs. The scarab motif, a symbol of rebirth and the journey toward the sun, appears across many ornaments.
The gallery’s final section offers a multimedia presentation that recreates the figure of the young sovereign. Here stands the Tutankhamun child statue emerging from a lotus blossom—an emblem of creation and rebirth from primordial chaos—accompanied by projections that reconstruct the pharaoh’s face, from skull to human features.
On two low panels is shown the mummy of Tutankhamun with focus on his body and the mummification process: the left side of the body was opened to remove the viscera; the brain was extracted through the nose, while the heart was removed, desiccated, and relocated near the abdomen; in its place a scarab was placed as a good omen and guide on the journey toward the sun.
Before exiting, there is the Gold Throne of Tutankhamun, a masterpiece of goldsmithing and symbolism. On the backrest, the queen Ankhesenamun is depicted anointing her young husband with perfumes in a rare moment of domestic intimacy; on the footstools, the pharaoh’s enemies are shown crushed beneath his feet, signifying dominion and the protection of the realm.
The Visit and Practical Information
Visiting the GEM requires time: guides even suggest dedicating a full day to exploring the museum, with a lunch break; the Tutankhamun gallery alone deserves about three hours. The adult ticket costs 1,270 EGP (about 23 euros), with a reduced rate of 635 EGP for students and children. Official guides are available on site, but only in English and Arabic.
Getting There
The museum is located roughly 14 kilometers from the city center and about 3 kilometers from the Pyramids of Giza. It can be reached from central Cairo by metro, taxi, or organized tours departing from hotels. Soon, a long pedestrian bridge will connect the museum to the pyramid plateau, offering scenic walking access.
A visit to the GEM can be integrated into a two-day stay in Cairo, a city now conveniently connected with Italy. In addition to some low-cost carriers flying to the Sphinx Airport, near the plateau, EgyptAir—the national airline—offers around 30 direct weekly flights from Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino, with various weekend promotions and museum visit deals.
How to Organize Your Visit
Given the high visitor numbers, the advice is to start planning your GEM visit and a broader stay in Cairo with time to spare, so you can fully savor the treasures now on display. The city is buzzing, at times still a bit chaotic.
To optimize travel times or booking arrangements—or to hire Italian-speaking guides or combine the museum visit with the Pyramids or city sightseeing—the best solution is to use a travel agency. The investment pays off because a guided tour with an expert Egyptologist changes the way you experience the place. Among many options, the Gattinoni Travel network offers several packages to suit all needs and ages, such as weekend getaways, long weekends in Cairo, or individual services like Italian-language guides, tickets for visits or transport, a Nile dinner, or cinema experiences.
