Egypt's immense new antiquities museum opens after two-decade build

Egypt’s much awaited museum showcasing the country’s ancient history opened on Saturday after more than two decades of construction.

Dignitaries, including prime ministers and presidents from around the world, descended on Cairo to attend the long-delayed grand opening.

It was an extravaganza of pharaonic imagery, a drone light show depicting ancient gods and pyramids in the sky, and local pop stars.

Located near the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx, it is the centrepiece of the government’s bid to boost Egypt’s tourism industry and bring cash into the troubled economy.

Speaking at the opening, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt was "writing a new chapter in the story of this ancient nation's present and future".

“This is the biggest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization, Egypt's civilization, whose glamor and grace never dim,” he said.

“This glorious edifice is not only a house for keeping precious relics, but rather a live testimony to the genius of the Egyptian."

Construction on the $1 billion project began in 2005 under the then-President Hosni Mubarak. But work was interrupted by turmoil surrounding the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that brought him down.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is one of several megaprojects championed by al-Sisi since he took office in 2014.

He embarked on massive infrastructure investments aiming to revive an economy weakened by decades of stagnation and battered by the unrest that followed the uprising.

Packed with some 100,000 artefacts covering about seven millennia of the country's history, the museum is expected to attract 5 million visitors annually.

One of its main attractions will be the entire contents of the expansive collection of treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb.

Displayed together for the first time since it was uncovered in 1922, this includes the boy-king's golden burial mask, throne, and sarcophagus, and thousands of other objects.