CNN Launches Promotional Film on Grand Egyptian Museum

On Sunday, the CNN International Network made a promotional film, titled "Inside the Grand Egyptian Museum", that will go behind the scenes at the museum, exploring the exhibits, conservation work and the museum’s significance as a major new cultural destination.

The film comes within the framework of the partnership of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, with the CNN to promote Egyptian tourism through its television channels, websites, and social media platforms in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

The CNN has produced and filmed in light of the contract concluded with the Tourism Promotion Authority to promote the Egyptian tourist destinations and its various tourist and archaeological attractions.

The film includes live footage that highlight the museum’s workflow mechanisms, in light of the complete commitment to all precautionary measures and health safety instructions, in preparation for its opening in 2021.

In addition, the film will also include talk shows with the Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, Major General Atef Miftah, General Supervisor of the GEM project and its surrounding area, and Dr. Al-Tayeb Abbas, Director General of the Museum of Archaeological Affairs.

Billed as Egypt’s gift to the world, the GEM is the biggest archaeological museum ever created and will house the greatest collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt.

From architectural competition to planned opening next year, the Grand Egyptian Museum has taken nearly 20 years. At almost half a million square metres, visitors may need to set aside two days to get around it.

CNN first caught up with the project in 2018, six years after construction began, and spoke to Dr Tarek Tawfik,  Director-General, Grand Egyptian Museum Project, 2015-19 about the building: “It’s a new landmark that is being added to the complete view of the city of greater Cairo… for the first time the pyramids and the fantastic treasures of Tutankhamun will be eye to eye.”

The Conservation Centre for the Grand Egyptian Museum is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and experts are working to conserve over 5,000 artifacts from Tutankhamun alone. Inside the Middle East learns that Tutankhamun’s treasures will be the star attraction of the museum in an expansive 7,000 square meter exhibit featuring the most famous and recognizable artifacts alongside ceremonial chariots, daggers made from meteorite, golden thrones and textiles.

Dr. Abbas explained the intrigue around Tutankhamun said: “When you go really deeply into the collections… into the history of the king, you discover that he was a really important king… his life and death is still a mystery. And that’s why people all over the world are still fascinated by King Tutankhamun.”

The GEM is expected to attract two to three million visitors in the first year and up to seven or eight million in the longer term. That would make the new museum among the top three most visited in the world.

“Today more than 96.5 % of the museum is finished,” Major General Moftah told CNN, “The project is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year. Then at the beginning of next year, we will work on the antiquities side of the project for four to six months. Hopefully by then, Covid-19 will be over and have left the world in peace.”