Grand Egyptian Museum Opening delayed (again)
I saw this little snippet in the Washington Post this evening:
*The Egyptian presidency said Sunday it was postponing the movement of civil servants from Cairo to a planned new administrative capital, 28 miles east, to 2021.
The opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum would also be pushed back, it said in a statement. The museum is due to supersede the internationally renowned Egyptian Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities and stands in downtown Cairo.
The new $1 billion museum has been plagued by delays and was first scheduled to open in 2015, a decade after it was conceived.
And this one from Saturday in the Egypt Independent:
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday moved to delay the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, alongside plans to relocate the state apparatus to the New Administrative Capital until 2021. . . . .
Another source said:
However, work on the two projects will continue, the presidential statement said. Mr El Sisi ordered that workers on these and other national infrastructure projects be provided with “the highest level” of health care and protection.
Neither these sources nor the half dozen others I found, mentioned a specific date.
Comments
AlanS...thanks for the update. Unfortunately, in the back of our minds I'm sure we all expected there would be another delay due to COVID-19 although it appears this delay is due to coordinating infrastructure projects. It may well be 2022 before the GEM finally opens to the public! As I was watching the Ten Commandments this weekend, I was just hoping to be able to make the trip in December and visit the sites...all hopes of visiting the GEM in 2020 had disappeared long time ago.
UPDATE: Appears the GEM will now open late 2021. I wonder how late??? This was posted November 1.
https://egyptforamericans.com/2020/11/the-new-grand-egyptian-museum-the-gem-opening-late-2021/?doing_wp_cron=1604584230.6196379661560058593750
Hopefully not the 2022 part of late 2021
October would be good (for us!)
this is so annoying! I'm starting to think I'm better off switching J&E tour all together to 2023
Or you could be like me and never intend to visit Egypt, sorry just trying to be funny, but it’s not on my wish list.
In a previous life I flew to Cairo many times while working on a contract basis for Saudia. I was a witness to the building of their ‘new’ airport which remarkably looked to be thousands of years old when it was finally completed. One of the runways was built by the Russians, and it was so rough that when you landed on it you felt like you were the first to arrive at the scene of a crash. I would not plan on seeing anything Egyptian that is not open when you make the reservations.
This article was posted yesterday. Everyday I'm getting more hopeful for December 2021 J&E....A COVID19 vaccine is near and 90% of Prep for Opening Ceremony for GEM is complete. I'm doing my "happy dance"
(http://egyptindependent.com/preparations-for-grand-egyptian-museums-opening-ceremony-90-complete-official/)
Just received my itinerary for Jewels of the Nile, Feb 2023. This was a postponed trip from Oct 2022 when I knew the GEM probably would be postponed AGAIN!! Supposedly the opening is November, but no one will say.
My itinerary specifically says VISIT THE OLD EGYPTIAN MUSEUM🤬.
I’ll call on Monday. Hopefully, they just reused an old itinerary.
What a joke. - Maybe Tut's reincarnation will be born and will finish the Museum himself.