Grand Egyptian Museum Closing from June 15 - July 5
View of the Giza Plateau from the Grand Egyptian Museum
The Grand Egyptian Museum will be closed from June 15 - July 5, 2025, in order to get the museum ready for the opening of the Tutankhamun Galleries and the Solar Boat Museum, and the grand opening, which is scheduled for July 6, 2025 (previously scheduled for July 3). In this post you will learn about what to expect regarding the GEM’s closing, what I recommend doing if you are going to Egypt during the period the GEM will be closed to the public, and what to look for regarding the museum’s grand opening.
The Grand Egyptian Museum Closing
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that the GEM will be closing temporarily from June 15 until July 5, 2025, in order to prepare the museum for the grand opening. Currently the museum is about 60% open, including the 12 main galleries, the Great Hall with the colossal statue of Ramses the Great, the Grand Staircase with dozens of gigantic statues and artifacts, the Children’s Museum, and the retail area, which has several food outlets and stores.
The GEM’s 12 Main Galleries are currently open to the public, but the King Tut exhibits and the Solar Boat Museum are not yet open.
The grand opening that is scheduled for July 6 will see the King Tutankhamun Galleries, with over 5,000 artifacts found in the boy king’s tomb over one hundred years ago, finally open to the public. This is the most anticipated area of Cairo's newest museum, and what we have all been waiting for years to experience. Along with the Tut Galleries, they will also open the satellite building just outside the GEM’s Great Hall that houses the Khufu Solar Boat, a full-sized solar barque that was buried next to one of the Giza Pyramids.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have stated that the grand opening will span three days, starting on July 3, and will go through July 5, with the museum being fully open to the public on July 6. At this point, we don’t have any information about what will happen on July 3, 4, and 5 during the grand opening ceremonies, other than it doesn’t seem like the museum will be open to the public at this time - you can read more on what to expect with the GEM’s full opening later on in this post.
Of course, the closing is disappointing news to travelers who will be in Egypt during the period of June 15 - July 5 who were hoping to see the parts of the GEM that are currently open to the public, but I have suggestions and ideas for what to see instead if your trip falls within that window - keep reading for more!
What to do in Egypt when the Grand Egyptian Museum is Closed
If your trip is happening within the window of June 15 - July 5, and you are not able to change your plans, the GEM will not be an option for your itinerary, so what should you do instead? Here are my suggestions for several alternatives to the Grand Egyptian Museum that will satisfy any lover of ancient Egypt. After all, the GEM is just one of dozens of amazing tourist attractions in Cairo focusing on the time of the pharaohs.
The Egyptian Museum (referred to as the “old museum”) in downtown Cairo near Tahrir Square
The Egyptian Museum (Old Museum) in Tahrir Square
The Egyptian Museum (also referred to as the “old museum”) in downtown Cairo near Tahrir Square is a great alternative to the Grand Egyptian Museum, since this museum still houses thousands of priceless artifacts from pharaonic times. Some highlights that you can see at the Egyptian Museum include:
The Narmer Palette, the first ever depiction of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the first king who united Upper and Lower Egypt and started the storied history of the pharaohs
Statues of Old Kingdom Pharaohs, like Djoser (the builder of the Saqqara Step Pyramid), Menkaure (the builder of the 3rd largest pyramid in Giza), and even Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid, although his statue is one of the smallest ones in the museum!
The Amarna Room, showing gorgeous examples of Amarna Art, during the time of the pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti
Spectacular black basalt triad statues, showing trios of gods from ancient Egypt, almost perfectly preserved
The Golden King Tut mask, sarcophagus, throne, and several other important artifacts of King Tut are still currently on display at the old Egyptian Museum, although we are not sure when these will be finally moved over to the GEM - stay tuned on my email list or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on this!
The fairly new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, another modern museum dedicated to ancient Egypt, like the GEM, also contains artifacts from all periods of Egyptian history
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, or NMEC, is a very well-curated, modern museum, located just 15 minutes from downtown Cairo. The highlight here is the mummy gallery, which houses 22 royal mummies of pharaohs and queens from the New Kingdom, including household names like Ramses the Great, and the queen Hatshepsut, at one point the most powerful woman in the world.
Besides the mummy gallery, the NMEC has a great selection of artifacts, from pre-pharonic history all the way up to the 20th century, with interesting thematic displays containing hundreds of ancient Egyptian artifacts, including cosmetics, building tools, musical instruments, clothes, and more!
Saqqara has the step pyramid of Djoser, along with dozens of other ancient sites waiting to be explored!
Saqqara
Just 45 minutes away from the Grand Egyptian Museum is Saqqara, the site of the ancient Step Pyramid, dozens of Old Kingdom tombs open to the public, a couple of pyramids that contain hieroglyphs in the burial chambers (the only pyramids you will find this in - not even Giza has this!), the mysterious Serapeum (an underground burial chamber containing dozens of gargantuan granite sarcophagi which used to house mummified bulls), and more! Saqqara is often cited by my guests as a more interesting site than even the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx, and if you are not able to go to the GEM, you can at least pay Saqqara a visit.
The Grand Egyptian Museum’s Grand Opening - What to Expect
The Grand Egyptian Museum will have a grand opening to the public on July 6, but the Egyptian government has also announced that the grand opening ceremonies will begin on July 3, and run for three days before finally allowing the public inside Egypt’s newest museum on the 6th of July.
At some point, travelers can expect the last remaining King Tut artifacts, like the golden mask, coffin, and throne, to move over from the old Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square to the GEM in Giza, but it’s not clear when this will happen - it could happen on June 15, the first day that the GEM will be closed down to the public, it could happen on July 3, as part of the opening ceremonies, or it could happen at another date.
In the past, Egypt has twice put on parades to commemorate the opening of new galleries or ancient sites, like the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade, which happened in April 2021, celebrating the movement of the 22 royal mummies from the old Egyptian Museum to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, and also in November 2021 when the avenue of the sphinxes between Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple was opened.
Based on the popularity of these events with the Egyptian public, the Egyptian government, and to a certain extent, the rest of the world, it would make sense for Egypt to move over the remaining Tutankhamun artifacts in a parade with the spectacle of the previous two ceremonies.
Other than this, Egypt has said time and again that it wants the Grand Egyptian Museum’s grand opening to be attended by world leaders and dignitaries from all over, so we can expect Egypt to try to host a star-studded event with lots of publicity and fanfare. The GEM has really been an international effort, with lots of support and funding coming from the Japanese Government, so we can expect to see some tie-in to the supporters of the GEM as well.
And of course, if you are wanting to come to Egypt once the GEM is fully open, I am sticking to the recommendation of “believe it when you see it”. Don’t rush to make plans to be in Egypt right on July 6, because the Grand Egyptian Museum’s full opening has been delayed again and again, to the point where I will only trust the museum will fully open when I see it with my own eyes! Even just a few months ago, the Egyptian Government announced that July 3 will be the date when the museum will open to the public, and now that already has been changed to July 6. Plus, I anticipate the first few days of the museum’s fully opening to be a bit hectic and chaotic, combined with the weather in July being the worst time to be in Egypt, with temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit most days.
If you aren’t subscribed to my YouTube channel already, I recommend subscribing to get any updates when I personally visit the GEM in early July to document the grand opening. And, just like the opening of all of the GEM’s main galleries which happened back in October 2024, I plan on live-streaming inside the museum, so you can be one of the first to see the museum in all its glory!
What questions do you have about the GEM’s grand opening, or anything else about Cairo’s newest museum? Leave a comment with your question or thoughts - I’d love to hear from you!
