The official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) on 1 November has sent waves of excitement across Egypt, awakening cultural fever across the country and sparking an unprecedented visitor turnout and a nationwide heritage thrill that many are calling a new age of “Egyptomania”.
From the early morning hours on 4 November, the first day the museum was open to the public after its official opening, thousands of Egyptians flocked to the vast complex overlooking the Giza Plateau, eager to explore what has been hailed as one of the most important cultural institutions of the 21st century.
According to Ahmed Ghoneim, CEO of the GEM Authority, some 18,000 visitors visited the museum on its first day of opening, a number that surpassed expectations and continued to climb in the day that followed reaching maximum capacity by midday.
Online ticketing sold out, and the ticket booths at the GEM entrance were closed, with signs reading “Today’s Tickets Sold Out” posted at the gates.
Rather than go home disappointed, however, many visitors redirected their excitement to the neighbouring Giza Pyramids. Tour buses and pedestrian groups poured onto the plateau, turning the area into an extension of the museum experience as families and tourists continued their day of discovery.
The unexpected flow of visitors has prompted the museum administrators to revise the ticketing process. Under the new system, tickets for weekends and official holidays must now be purchased exclusively online to prevent overcrowding and ensure orderly access. Weekday visitors can continue to choose between online reservations and ticket booths available on-site.
“This overwhelming response reflects the deep emotional connection Egyptians have with their heritage,” Ghoneim said. “The museum is not merely a cultural destination, but it is also a symbol of identity, pride, and rediscovery.” He announced that over the past week, daily visitor counts have averaged around 19,000, marking one of the highest opening-week turnouts for a major museum worldwide.
Renowned Egyptologist and former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass described the phenomenon as a nationwide revival of Egyptomania, an intense fascination with ancient Egyptian civilisation that has historically swept across art, scholarship, and popular imagination worldwide. This time, however, the movement is home-grown, fuelled by Egyptians themselves.
Families, students, scholars, and tourists have been seen gathering around the museum’s monumental spaces, taking photographs beside the colossal statue of Ramses II in the entrance hall and engaging with narratives of ancient craftsmanship and monumental engineering. Meanwhile, the majority of visitors left all this behind and hurried to catch a glimpse of the mask of the golden boy-king Tutankhamun.
For many, visiting the GEM is not just a recreational outing but is a long-awaited historic moment. We have waited so long to see this place open with our own eyes,” said engineer Ali Hassan, standing in the queue to enter the museum. “This is history unfolding in front of us.”
The excitement surrounding the opening has even inspired families to weave the museum into their own memories. One couple, celebrating their wedding anniversary, came dressed in their original gown and suit, children in tow, hoping to capture a family portrait before the museum’s iconic façade.
The moment drew smiles and phone cameras from those around them. But their celebration stopped at the entrance, as museum regulations prohibit entry in bridal attire, leaving them to mark the occasion outside the building instead.
The opening days also drew visitors from across the governorates. Two Egyptians, dressed in traditional galabiyas, had travelled from Tanta in the Gharbiya Governorate specifically to see the museum for themselves.
“We heard about it on television, watched officials touring it, and listened to the president speak about it,” said Khala Sayeda, who let out a joyful zaghrouta (ululation) as she stepped through the entrance.
“We wanted to understand what kind of museum the whole world has been talking about.” Her husband, Ahmed Hassan, stood silently before the iconic mask of Tutankhamun, his eyes fixed in awe. “When I looked at his face, it felt like he was talking to me saying that he was proud that his successors have finally made this museum happen.”
The wave of Egyptomania has not swept Egyptians alone. Foreign visitors, too, have been drawn to Cairo specifically to be among the first to step inside the GEM.
Patricia Gumma, a tourist from France with Italian origins, told Al-Ahram Weekly that she had been closely following news of the opening so she could plan her trip around it. “I wanted to be here from the very first days,” she said. “I came especially to see Tutankhamun’s treasures. I never saw them in the old museum, so this is my first time, and I didn’t want to miss it.”
Inside the Tutankhamun galleries, the atmosphere was a blend of reverence and quiet amazement. Visitors moved slowly, almost instinctively lowering their voices as they approached the golden mask, as if entering a sacred space.
Children clutched their parents’ hands, teenagers raised their phones for a careful photograph, and elderly visitors stood motionless, eyes glistening, as though reconnecting with a memory older than time. The galleries felt less like a museum hall and more like a meeting between generations, the living and those who shaped civilisation thousands of years ago.
As they moved from one artefact to the next, the gallery filled with soft murmurs of astonishment, with the word “wow” quietly whispered under people’s breaths. Every piece associated with Tutankhamun seemed to stop visitors in their tracks: the gilded shrines, the delicate jewellery, the inlaid chests, the ceremonial throne.
People leaned in close, studying every detail of the craftsmanship, as though trying to understand how hands from more than three millennia ago could shape such perfection. The sense of wonder was shared, almost contagious, passing from one visitor to another like a secret rediscovered.
As the crowds continue to grow, one thing is clear: the GEM has entered public life not quietly, but with a cultural roar. Egypt, it seems, has fallen in love with its past all over again.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 November, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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