After nearly 100 years at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, King Tutankhamun’s iconic gold funerary mask and remaining artifacts are poised for transfer to the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) near the Giza Pyramids. Visitors have only a few days left to view the boy king’s world-renowned gold mask before it joins over 5,000 relics from his tomb in the $1 billion GEM project, which is scheduled to open on July 3.
Museum director Ali Abdel Halim confirmed that only 26 objects from Tutankhamun’s collection, including the golden mask and two coffins, remain on display at the Tahrir Square museum and are set to be moved soon. However, the government has yet to officially announce the timing and logistics of the transfer.
Currently exhibited are the innermost gold coffin, a gilded coffin, a gold dagger, a cosmetic box, miniature coffins, a royal diadem, and pectorals. Since their registration at the Egyptian Museum in 1934, Tutankhamun’s treasures have been regarded as its crown jewels. Yet the neoclassical building, with aging infrastructure, faded display cases, and lack of climate control, now stands in stark contrast to the state-of-the-art GEM.
Upon opening, the Grand Egyptian Museum is expected to become the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization, showcasing more than 100,000 artifacts, with over half available for public viewing. For the first time in history, most of King Tutankhamun’s treasures will be exhibited together in a dedicated wing, marking nearly a century since British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the young pharaoh’s nearly intact tomb in 1922.
Tutankhamun’s mummy will remain in its original resting place in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, as Egyptian officials emphasize its integral role within the archaeological site. A virtual replica of the mummy will be presented at the GEM through cutting-edge virtual reality technology.
The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, once the epicenter of Egyptology, experienced the relocation of other major exhibits in 2021, including 22 royal mummies such as Ramses II and Queen Hatshepsut, which were moved in a highly publicized procession to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Old Cairo. The Tahrir museum still holds approximately 170,000 artifacts, including treasures from Tutankhamun’s ancestors Yuya and Thuya, as well as items from ancient Tanis, such as the golden funerary mask of King Amenemope.
To date, about 32,000 artifacts have been transferred from the Tahrir museum’s storage and display halls to the GEM. The museum director indicated that the space left vacant by Tutankhamun’s collection will be replaced by a new exhibition designed to match the significance of the boy king’s treasures.
