UAE royals attend Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
Sheikh Khaled represented the UAE as Egypt unveiled a landmark for culture and travel
On behalf of UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, attended the official opening of Egypt’s long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) beside the Pyramids of Giza. The ceremony gathered regional leaders and global dignitaries for a night of light shows, music and fireworks marking a new era for one of the world’s most ambitious cultural projects.
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
Grand Egyptian Museum opening in Giza
For UAE travellers, the timing could not be better. The GEM is designed as a destination in its own right, bringing together tens of thousands of artifacts, including, for the first time, the full Tutankhamun collection, inside a vast complex that sits within sight of the Sphinx. It is billed as the world’s largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilisation, a space where you can move from colossal statues to intimate pieces of daily life and then step outside to the Giza plateau.
The UAE’s presence at the opening underlines deep cultural and tourism ties across the region, and adds a practical note for your next long weekend. A short flight from Abu Dhabi or Dubai puts you at a venue purpose-built for modern museum-going: expansive galleries, family-friendly exhibits, conservation labs you can glimpse on tours, and new visitor infrastructure stitched around the site to make access far smoother than in years past. Officials hope the museum will anchor Egypt’s visitor growth in the years ahead, which means more reasons to plan a Cairo-plus-Giza itinerary that balances city buzz with time on the plateau.
Sheikh Khaled was accompanied during the opening ceremony by other royals, including His Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Tahnoon bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court and His Excellency Sheikh Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi, Minister of Culture.
The opening-night spectacle was a hint of how big this moment is for Egypt: drone choreography and pharaonic themes set against the museum’s angular façade, with heads of state and regional royals in the VIP rows. For culture-hungry UAE residents charting the winter travel calendar, pencil GEM near the top; a new heavyweight has entered the world-museum conversation, and it is finally open to explore.
Images: Abu Dhabi Media Centre
