The opening the world has been waiting for

A great decision by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to open the Grand Egyptian Museum this year, and I still back the opinion I wrote about the trial opening of the museum, and I repeat it again. The whole world has been waiting for the opening for years... since an idea was born in the head of the artist Farouk Hosni in 1992, but we lost hope in completing it during the incidents of January 25 and the idea came back to light after June 30.

I still remember what Farouk Hosni narrated, that while he was in France, someone asked him, “What will you do in your warehouse in Tahrir?” Hosni replied, “ we will establish the largest museum in the world” and began turning his dream into reality. 

I hope that we will launch a major global campaign to support the campaign of the great archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, to restore the unique artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone and the head of Nefertiti, or even to borrow them to be at the opening with the artifacts of Tutankhamun, to complete the dazzling picture, and to take advantage of the great archaeological discovery that Dr. Zahi recently announced which is the discovery of a large number of inscriptions from the Valley Temple in Luxor, they are among the rarest and most beautiful examples of sculpture from the era of Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.

We should launch a global promotion campaign of the opening of the museum from now on within an integrated system to promote the antiquities and archaeological sites. The opening of the museum will attract the world’s attention. I also believe that the promotion should be inside Egypt as well. There must be an awareness campaign to teach people in general and those working in tourism services in particular how to deal with tourists through campaigns in the media and signboards on the streets. This year should be named the Year of Tourism in Egypt, and we will begin global campaigns to promote it with well-known figures who talk about Egypt, the icon of history and civilization in the world.