Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza is open to visitors on limited soft-launch basis after a two decade construction programme that exceeded €920m over two decades. The museum was designed by the firm founded by Irish architect Róisín Heneghan from Erris, county Mayo and her business partner Shih-Fu Peng whom she met at Harvard.
Doors first welcomed ticket holders on selected dates from October 2025 with full public access scheduled for spring 2026. Tutankhamun tomb artefacts appear together in one location for the first time since 1922 discovery with all 5,000 items transferred from Cairo Egyptian Museum. Khufu solar boat occupies dedicated gallery beside 1,000-tonne Ramses II statue moved from Ramses Square in 2018.
Exhibition halls cover 490,000 square metres with 100,000 artefacts on show across two main levels. Entry tickets cost €25 for standard adult access to main halls or €45 for packages covering Tutankhamun galleries and guided pyramid views. Visitor numbers remain capped at 5,000 daily during soft opening to test crowd flow systems.
Airport-style security screens all bags at three entrance gates. Shuttle buses run every fifteen minutes from Cairo city centre at €4 return. Restaurant terraces seat 1,200 overlooking pyramid plateau. Gift shops stock replicas priced from €10 to €500. Ministry of Tourism reports 15,000 advance bookings logged in first week of October 2025 sales. Hotel partners in Giza offer combined stay-and-ticket bundles from €180 per night.
Final landscaping works were completed on 240,000 square metre gardens completed last month. Children under six enter free when accompanied by adults. Online booking portal at gem.gov.eg handles all reservations with slots released monthly. Sound-and-light shows debut nightly from 7pm at €15 per seat. Museum authorities confirm 87pc of collection now installed with remaining items due before full inauguration ceremony in April 2026.
Projects designed by Róisín include the Kildare Civic offices (her first international award), the Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre on the Causeway Coast World Heritage Site, the National Gallery of Ireland historic wings refurbishment, and the Palestinian Museum at Bir Zeit, which was awarded the Aga Khan Award in Architecture. Significant recent projects include the Visitors’ Centre at the Botanic Gardens Berlin (with Studio Qwertz), Storm King Art Center in upstate New York, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtnis Kirche in Berlin.
