Four artifacts you won’t see except in the Grand Egyptian Museum

CAIRO – 26 August 2020: The Grand Egyptian Museum is a national project that the whole world is highly anticipating. It is the biggest museum in the world dedicated to one civilization and will house over 50,000 artifacts.

Below are four artifacts that will not be shown anywhere else but the Grand Egyptian Museum.

The Great Staircase:

The Great Staircase in the Grand Egyptian Museum will serve as an introduction to the museum. It will focus on the various powers of the king and will be labelled Zone 1. 

The foyer will contain a visual expression of the essence of the Kingship theme.  It all starts with a huge statue of King Ramses II, the head of government, the army chief and the high priest of all the gods in each temple. The king was also the mediator between the gods and the people of Egypt. His presence was considered a link between heaven, earth and the souls of the dead.

The Great Staircase focuses on two themes, the royal image, and gods and kings. It is divided into four sections. The first section will deal with how the king was represented in the three-dimensional statues / sculptures.

The exhibits of the staircase date back to various eras throughout Egypt's history from the Old Kingdom until the Roman era. 

The second section focuses on the status of the deities. This will include representation of kings participating in religious rituals and offering sacrifices to the gods. This will be displayed in addition to pillars, columns and other distinctive elements of temples that were built for the gods, dating back to the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms.

The complete set of King Tutankhamun’s belongings:

The holdings of the golden king Tutankhamun, which exceed 5,000 artifacts, will be displayed on an area of 7,000 square meters inside the Grand Egyptian Museum, for the first time.

Khufu’s Ships:

Initially, the Second Khufu Solar Ship was the only one set to be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum. However, it was decided to display Khufu’s First Solar Ship along with the second one in a specialized hall in the Grand Egyptian Museum. This was the idea of Atef Moftah, general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum and the surrounding area. 

The Hanging Obelisk:

The first hanging obelisk square in the world is being constructed in the Grand Egyptian Museum. The hanging obelisk shows the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians in designing and carving ancient monuments. 

Atef Moftah was keen to take into account the accuracy in the archaeological, engineering and technical aspects of the obelisk that will be erected in the Grand Egyptian Museum in the external lobby, which spans over an area of about 28,000 meters. 

From an archaeological point of view, the design was based on the possibility of seeing the cartouches of King Ramses II, located at the bottom of the base of the obelisk hull, which remained out of sight for nearly 3500 years.

Through Moftah's design, the obelisk square's visitor can enter the base of the obelisk, in order to see the archaeological base below it, and by looking up, the cartouches of King Ramses II can be seen in an eye-catching panorama.