Grand Egyptian Museum

In the morning, bright and early, we went to the GEM - Grand Egyptian Museum that was a huge endeavor decades in the making, just opened in November 2025. It was an incredible architectural masterpiece, and also famous for displaying for the first time the entire collection of the Tutankhamen tomb findings. Even though we had a full day to explore, until closing at 4 pm, we decided to start with the Tut’s collection, while we were still fresh. It’s very hard to describe the enormity, expansiveness and the amazing state of preservation of all the objects, and pictures certainly don’t do it justice. I think it’s truly the best treasure of antiquity. There is everything Tut may need in the afterlife - from massive chariots, beds and chairs to canes, perfume bottles, jewelry and medicine. The most astonishing is the burial chamber - Tut’s mummy was like a matryoshka 🪆- the mummy was in 3 sarcophagi and those were in 4 massive boxes. All incredibly decorated and tightly fitting around one another. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that all this treasure somehow fit into the small tomb that we just visited. After the Tut’s collection, we were explored the rest of the museum a bit, which was quite overwhelming and one would need a few days to truly visit all the galleries. We then had lunch in one of the many restaurants in the museum and stopped by again back at the Tut to see his stunning funeral mask again. Finally, we went to a separate building in the museum that hosts a funeral boat of Pharaoh Khufu from the old kingdom. This wooden boat was found buried in the pit near Khufu pyramid, disassembled into pieces with assembly instructions of papyrus. Basically a giant Lego kit - it was supposed to be used in afterlife. Being 4500 years old, it’s the oldest surviving organic object. The condition of the boat, its size and craftsman was just incredible. With that, it was a truly explosive and spectacular wrap of our Egypt trip.Read more