Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM)

In November, I spent 2 weeks visiting friends in Cairo. Just before I arrived, the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) opened the majority of its galleries as part of a “limited access”  program “to test site readiness.”  This museum has been a loooong time coming.

Conceived as a Hosni Mubarak vanity project back in 2002, the GEM is touted as the world’s largest archeological musem, eventually to house more than 100,000 artifacts within 872,000 sq. ft. of floor space. (For context, the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square houses over 120,000 objects within just 165,000 sq. ft.  The Louvre displays over 500,000 objects and works of art in 782,910 sq. ft. – but it’s not solely an “archeological museum.”)

The completion date for this gigantic edifice has been pushed back again and again and again. There have been a multiple announcements that the Grand Opening would be “next year” and a couple of soft openings over the last couple of years to test visitor management and security systems – a wise approach IMO.  The Grand Hall (featuring all the essentials: gift shops and a food court) and the ~80′ high Grand Staircase have been open for about 18 months. The galleries housing Tutankhamen’s glories and the new museum housing both of Khufu’s Solar Boats are not yet open.   But in October, just a couple of weeks before my visit, the museum’s 12 main galleries opened for this trial run. Lucky me!

The GEM is located right behind Egypt’s most famous pyramids, the Great Pyramids at Giza. It’s just one element in an enormous campaign of residential and commercial expansion into the deserts surrounding Cairo that has been underway for more than 60 years.  These days, those pictures you see of the Great Pyramids standing majestically alone in the vast desert are very carefully framed.

I was frankly amazed by how much development has occurred in the deserts surrounding Cairo since I last spent much time here.  Every other billboard along the highways is advertising real estate developments. My friend Moshira and her family are relocating to the lovely residential area of New Giza, just behind the pyramids on the west.

The GEM site covers more than 120 acres. There is parking for over 2000 vehicles with more spaces planned in future.  They are clearly expecting a LOT of visitors.

Egyptian President Sisi has launched massive highway and infrastructure projects all over Egypt, while disinvesting in education and the social welfare programs (like subsidies for bread, cooking oil and fuel) on which Egypt’s poor (⅔ of the population) depend.  Egypt’s economy is tanking (the Egyptian pound fell from 12 cents on the dollar to 2 cents on the dollar while I was there) but the country has a lot of lovely new bridges…and the GEM. However, I digress…

To enter the GEM, you first pass through security, and then through one of the many ticket gates. Although cell phone photography is permitted, cameras aren’t allowed past the security gates.

The building architecture is stunning, featuring local stone and lots of pyramidal forms in case you forget where you are.

It’s a very long walk from the ticket booths across the plaza in front of the museum entry. There is a rather odd geometric water feature…

…and  an obelisk “floating” above the ground. The obelisk (from Tanis) sits on a glass plate that you can stand beneath to view a cartouche of (who else?) Ramses 2 carved into the base.

Cartouches containing the the “Great Names” of some of ancient Egypt’s most famous rulers frame the entry doors.

Once inside, the pyramidal forms continue within the bright and airy atrium. The space is designed to overawe visitors with its grandeur – very much in the tradtion of the the architecture of the pharaohs.

To the right of the entry (as you face it) is a large stadium-style gallery used for concerts and events. Preparations were underway for a concert later that evening on the day we visited.

A 30+ foot tall statue of Ramses 2 (found in Memphis/Men-nefer, just south of Cairo) dominates the entry. This statue stood for many years outside Cairo’s main train station, “Ramses station.”  The GEM building had to be constructed around the sculpture, since it would not have fit through the doors post-construction.

See the small window just below the peak on the right side if the entry door? The statue is positioned so that the rising sun will illuminate it on the Winter and Spring Equinox, like the design in Ramses 2’s most famous temple at Abu Simbel.

We asked for a museum map and were given this plan of the main floor to photograph. The museum’s main entrance is in the lower center, just below the colossal statue of Ramses 2. The lower right (black numbered squares) contains retail shops, and the upper right (red numbered squares) contains a food court. Just above Ramses’ head and to the left is the Grand Staircase which provides access to the museum galleries.

Rest rooms are located just to the left of the main entry. Folks who have visited Egypt over the years (and have the hems to prove it) will be in awe at the facilities.

The gift shops carry an interesting assortment of goods, ranging from merely pricey to really expensive.

These 16′ tall statues of a Ptolemiac king and queen are from recent underwater excavations at Alexandria. Although un-inscribed, they probably represent Ptolemy II Philadelphus (277-270 BCE) and his sister-wife, Arsinoe II, great-great-great-great grandparents of Cleopatra VII (she of Julius Caesar, Marcus Antonius and Caesar Augustus fame).

The museum advertised audio tours, which we thought were the self-guided kind you find in many museums today. Moshira and I purchased the earphones only to discover that they were for guided tours, offered in many languages, but led by a live person.  So we dutifully trooped along after our English-speaking guide for ~ 1.5 hours, up the Grand Staircase and through the main galleries. I thought the tour was very well constructed, providing visitors with a solid overview of ancient Egyptian life over three millennia, while winding through the museum’s enormous collection of thousands of artifacts. I popped back for a second dash through the galleries after the tour ended.

The Grand Staircase ascends six stories in height. It is arranged as a series of staircases winding around platforms containing statuary, stelae, obelisk tips, temple lintels and sarcophagi, illustrating different aspects of royal and divine imagery over time. A “travelator” (moving walkaway) runs along the right side of the staircase, with three breaks for  “landing platforms” where visitors can step out of the travelator to move closer to exhibits. (There is also a glass elevator for wheeled access.)  Seating is available along the way in the form of benches and steps.

Our guide explained that the Grand Staircase exhibits were designed to illustrate four aspects of kingship, but I found the arrangement to be something of a hodgepodge. Most of the statuary came from the Tahrir Square museum’s great hall and open air museum, and the organization was unclear to me. For those interested in more detail about the Staircase’s organization and intent, this review by a PhD student offers good perspective. Below are images of the Staircase and some of the pieces I found most interesting.

This is the top of the Grand Staircase and entry to the Main Galleries.There were closed galleries to the right  – perhaps the Tutankhamen galleries will be accessed that way?

A right turn from the top of the Grand Staircase takes visitors to this window wall with grand views of the Giza pyramids.

Visitors encounter a lot of interesting lighting and computer imagery throughout the galleries. These cubes are at the entry to the Main Galleries.

The 12 Main Galleries are organized along two dimensions: chronologically, from the Predynastic to the Graeco-Roman period (the vertical axes); and topically around Society, Kingship and beliefs (the horizontal axes).

Galleries 1-3, Predynastic (c. 4000 BCE) to 1st Intermediate Period (c. 1980 BCE).

The artifacts I found especially interesting were from the Predynastic (c. 4500 BCE) through Old Kingdom (c.2200 BCE), my areas of particular interest.

I was thrilled to see artifacts from my favorite site, Hierakonpolis/Nekhen (south of Edfu). Tomb 72 appears to be the resting place of a powerful ruler c. 3600 BCE. His tomb suffered what appears to be deliberate damage, followed by deliberate restoration, in the centuries preceding the unification of Egypt, when various proto-states were competing with one another for dominance.  To my knowledge, the artifacts from this tomb have not been exhibited previously.

Some lovely examples of Naqada period pottery (c. 4000-3000 BCE).

The next images are from Egypt’s Old Kingdom, the pyramid age (c. 2600-2200 BCE). There were a lot of really lovely pieces, most of which I had not seen before.

The furniture of Hetepheres 1 is an important collection that has been moved from Tahrir to the GEM, where it is now displayed to much greater advantage. Hetepheres 1 (c. 2600 BCE, Dynasty 4) was the mother of Khufu, builder of the largest pyramid at Giza.  In 1925, a shaft tomb was discovered near one of the three smaller “queen’s pyramids” that sit beside Khufu’s colossus.  The narrow tomb contained several pieces of furniture and a canopy of state belonging to Hetepheres, along with her canopic jars (containing her internal organs), pottery, and an unused sarcophagus. This was clearly not the normal tomb for the mother of a great ruler (especially one who was likely a power in her own right) and her missing body still has scholars scratching their heads. Was it a reburial of important pieces after her real tomb had been destroyed? No one knows.

The furniture was carefully restored and gives us a fairly unique look at royal furnishings in the Old Kingdom. The tomb was excavated by George Reisner, and his home base, the Boston Museum of Art, contains faithful replicas of the major pieces.

Khafre (c. 2550 BCE), builder of the 2nd largest pyramid at Giza, Dynasty 4. He was probably a grandson of Hetepheres 1.

Below are funerary boats from the pyramid of Queen Neith (c. 2200 BCE, Dynasty 6), a daughter of Pepi 1 and wife of Pepi 2. These boats were to ensure her safe journeys to and in the afterlife.

Interesting computer imagery of life in and around Great Pyramids and associated workers’ village, during the heyday of these tomb and temple complexes.

Next up are Galleries 4-6, Middle Kingdom (c. 1980 BCE) through the 2nd Intermediate Period (c. 1540 BCE).  

Egypt’s ruling families were based around Memphis (vicinity of modern Cairo) from about 2800 – 2100 BCE (the Old Kingdom). Then the centralized authority collpased of its own weight, followed by about 150 years with no centralized/unified government (the 1st Intermediate Period). Around 1980 BCE, a ruler called Mentuhotep I, based in Thebes/Wast (modern Luxor) re-united the country, launching the Middle Kingdom. It was a time of great innovation, producing some of the most interesting and beautiful art, literature jewelry in all of Egyptian history.

One of the Middle Kingdom innovations was the use of highly decorated coffins by non-royal elites. Magic spells ensuring access to the afterlife were painted on the outside and inside of wooden coffins.  The GEM has some gorgeous examples.

Middle Kingdom tombs often featured wooden models of everyday life, representing important aspects of the lives of the deceased.

Below are Middle Kingdom offering plates and soul houses, designed to accept offerings that would sustain the deceased in the afterlife – for people who could not afford a mortuary temple. Some of our understanding of the architecture of ordinary peoples’ homes comes from models like these, which included staircases, doorways, columns and even gardens.

Below are offering tables in front of false doors carved in stone, from the mortuary temples of more well-to-do families.

The GEM exhibits some lovely examples of Middle Kingdom and Intermediate Period jewelry. I’m always amazed at the delicacy and intricacy of these pieces.

Next up: Galleries 7-9, the New Kingdom, c. 1539-1077 BCE.

This was the time of Egypt’s empire, which (at its greatest) extended south into modern Sudan and east across Palestine as far as modern Syria. Most of the rulers well known today are from this period.

There is a clever animated reproduction of the tomb chapel of Khnumhotep (location not identified). In the lower pictures, watch Khnumhotep toss his throwing stick as he hunts birds in a Nile marsh.

Below are shots of an exhibit on daily life, focusing on cosmetics, clothing and everyday activities.

One of my favorite exhibits is the computerized reproduction of the journey to Punt during the reign of Hatshpsut (1479-1458 BCE). Punt was a distant land south of Egypt (possibly modern Yemen, possibly modern Ethiopia) which was the source of exotic goods highly prized by Egyptian rulers. It was a long and diffucult journey, and successful voyages were celebrated.

Hatshepsut (a woman ruler) memorialized a journey to Punt on her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri.  Above is a stylized view of her temple, with a sketch of the relief  illustrating the journey to Punt below.

The GEM has brought the journey to life with computer imagery.

Reliefs from the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose 3 are generally of the highest quality.

Below is an interesting collection of musical instruments.

Egyptian belief systems were remarkably stable over 3000 years, with new ideas easily absorbed into a vast pantheon of deities through syncretization (deities merging with/absorbing other religious identities). There was one exception: the Amarna period (c. 1350-1334 BCE), when Amenhotep 3/Akhenaten overturned the dominant cult of Amen-re, installing the Aten (a form of the sun god) as the official state religion – with himself as sole intermediary . Some older scholars argued that Akhenaten was the first monotheist. (Some have argued that he was Moses.)

However, more recent work has demonstrated that many lesser deities were still routinely worshipped, and it seems more likely that the Amarna Revolution was rooted in a power struggle between the too-powerful cult of Amen-Re vs. the royals.  At the heart of this scholarly debate is the Great Hymn to the Aten, a lengthy and beautiful hymn/poem which bears a lot of resemblance to Psalm 104 in the Jewish/Christian bible (written about 1000 years later).  The GEM has a beautiful installation of the Hymn, rotating stanzas across an arched ceiling of cobalt blue frames, reproducing reliefs of the Hymn. It’s gorgeous and very innovative!

Tutankhamen, Egypt’s best known ruler, backed away from the Aten and restored the cult of Amen-re during his brief reign. (Or, since he was child, it’s more likely that his advisors did).  The bulk of the treasures from Tutankhamen’s nearly intact tomb are being moved to the GEM, but those galleries weren’t yet open on my visit. Below are some lovely reliefs from Tutankhamen’s military campaign into Nubia, from Karnak.

The GEM has many windows along the north side, providing lots of natural light and occasional outside views.

And now we’ve reached the 19th Dynasty, the Ramesside era. Beginning with Ramses 2, the quality of art, especially the reliefs, declines, in my opinion – probably because Ramses was in such a hurry to build and appropriate monuments to his own glory. The founders of this dynasty came from Tanis, in the Delta. With no familial ties to prior rulers, their monuments were aimed at establishing their legitimacy.

For visitors to Luxor, the mortuary temple and palace of Ramses 3 at Medinet Habu is a required – and memorable – locale.  Built like a medieval fortress, it is one of the best preserved New Kingdom sites.  Ramses 3 (1186-1155 BCE) lived at a time of great upheaval with the collapse of civilizations all across the eastern Mediterranean world. He was the last New Kingdom ruler to wield substantial power and was assassinated in a well-documented “harem conspiracy” led by one of his chief wives.

Descending from the heady heights of royal conspiracy and assassination, this intriguing collection features sketches and trial pieces made by the artists who decorated royal Ramesside tombs (from the Valley of the Kings).

Galleries 10-12 focus on the 3rd Intermediate (1076-723 BCE), Late (722-332 BCE) and Graeco-Roman (332 BCE-644 CE).

During these periods, Egypt’s throne was occupied by Libyan, Nubian, Persian, Greek and Roman rulers, and my interest declines precipitously.  The only pictures I took in these galleries were oddities that captured my attention (possibly to readers’ relief).

There were many lovely images of Bes, one of my favorite Egyptian deities. This ugly little dwarf was a protector of households, especially mothers and children. He also loved music and parties.

Sobek, the crocodile god originated in the Fayoum. Sobek was a god of fertility and a protector against the dangers of the Nile (like Nile crocodiles). Temples to Sobek featured resident crocodiles kept by priests, who dressed them up with gold bands on their legs. Recent work by zooarcheologists has shown that the crocs kept in temples were not Nile crocodiles, but a smaller and less aggressive species that was easier to manage. No longer present in the Nile Valley, these Western/Sacred crocodiles are still present in lakes and lagoons in central and eastern Africa, where they are still sometimes worshipped. (See this fascinating documentary in Mauritania for an example).

Cats of all sizes were revered in ancient Egypt from the Predynastic through the Ptolemaic. Multiplle feline deities were syncretized into Bastet (shown here, associated with fertility and protection of mothers and children), and Sekhmet, the lioness-headed goddess of healing and war.

I thought this Ptolemaic mummy bed of Pinudjedemib was exquisite (Akhmim).

Sarcophagus of General Potasimto, Dynasty 26.  The General commanded Egyptian troops in a Nubian campaign in 592 BCE, after which said troops memorialized the battle in graffiti scratched into the left leg of one of the colossal statues of Ramses 2 at Abu Simbel. (I doubt that The Great One approved.)

Footsore and suffering from museum overload, we finished our visit with tea and a snack in the GEM food hall.

I was pleased to see that the cat featured on one cafe’s menu wasn’t merely a paper image.

And that’s the GEM. Before visiting, I asked an Egyptologist friend what was left in the old museum at Tahrir. His reply? “Everything.” I visited Tahrir after the GEM, and agreed with his assessment: almost all of the important pieces (excepting Tutankhamen) are still in that chaotic warehouse/museum. And Tahrir was packed with tourists! But that’s a story for another day…