When I was here in 1982 a relatively small building off Tahrir square was the Egyptian museum. I went back a second time then to admire this amazing collection that, due to the constraint of size seemed to be piled on top of each other. Move forward to 2026 and while the old museum is still there two new museums have been built namely the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).
The former while hosting some interesting exhibits is a must see for the mummy exhibit with 18 pharaohs and 2 Queens. Sadly no photography is allowed there but it is incredible.
The GEM is massive and full of amazing statues but the knockout exhibit here is the amazing Tutankhamun exhibit. There were 5300 objects retrieved from his tiny tomb in 1922 – 23. When displayed here it fills a massive display and the golden objects are indescribably beautiful! In 1982 there was no photography allowed. Superbly now that is not the case.
