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“The extra about them, the extra besotted you get.”
Egypt’s deputy minister of tourism is gazing throughout the plateau of Giza as he describes the unforgettable sight of the Nice Pyramid, proudly pushing out of the desert in entrance of him.
Darkish shadows of clouds climb up the sandy sides, solely to roll off once more, leaving the pyramids shining in the identical vibrant yellow because the sand which lies throughout, dominating the horizon as they level to the heavens above.
A smile stretching his cheeks extensive, Mohamed Salama runs by among the massively formidable plans to remodel Cairo’s tourism, together with the opening of the Nice Egyptian Museum.
We’re sharing an Egyptian combined grill lunch on the 9 Pyramids restaurant, camouflaged into the Giza desert plateau and overlooking one of many world’s most well-known landmarks.
Out of sight, on the northern facet of the pyramids and the sphinx, is the 120-acre website of the long-delayed however highly-anticipated £1 billion Japanese-funded museum – the most important archaeological museum on the earth with 872,000 square-feet of floorspace.
Will probably be house to 100,000 artefacts, together with 5,398 objects from the legendary Tutankhamun assortment, that includes highlights resembling the long-lasting demise masks of the boy king in addition to his golden throne.
Greater than 100 years because the world was gripped by the excavations of British archaeologist Howard Carter, who uncovered one of many best historic discoveries, Egypt is getting ready a remaining resting place worthy of the legendary king’s possessions.
The roof of the sand-coloured compound slopes right down to earth like a ray of daylight from the sky, which is interrupted by a pyramid of darkish stone that acts because the grand entrance to the museum.
The way to plan your journey
Flights
EasyJet (easyjet.com) flies from London Luton to Sphinx Airport as much as three days per week all year long with costs ranging from £139 return pp (together with taxes).
EasyJet holidays gives three nights on the 5* Waldorf Astoria Cairo Heliopolis (room solely) from £780 per individual together with 23kg of bags per individual and flights from London Gatwick on April 27, 2024. Excursions and actions may be booked by Musement.
As soon as inside, I’m greeted within the luxuriously huge foyer by the three,200-year-old statue of Ramses II – at 11 metres, it’s so tall that it needed to be put in when the location was nonetheless a pile of sand, and the museum was then constructed round it.
Though the opening date for the museum nonetheless has not been confirmed, I’ve been invited by easyJet Holidays to have a sneak preview of what the Egyptian vacationer authority is promising to be among the finest historic collections on the earth.
The go to begins with a 360-degree immersive cinema expertise, which pulls us again in time and into the legend of King Tut, taking us on a digital journey to the Valley of the Kings and into his tomb, which is recreated within the vibrant yellows, reds and greens of the unique hieroglyphics – as recent because the day they had been initially painted for his demise in 1323BC.
Afterwards, I return to the foyer to start the ascent of the Grand Staircase, which echoes a facet of the pyramids which had been designed as a pathway to the heavens for the god kings buried of their lavish tombs inside.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo
(Ben Mitchell/PA)
At each stage as I ascend, I’m met by an array of statues, sarcophagi and tablets, which inform the story of the kings and queens of Egypt, earlier than I attain the ultimate stage depicting the ages-old goal of all of the kings – eternity.
Right here is the doorway to the gallery devoted to Tutankhamen – whose identify will certainly stay endlessly – and a large window offering an awe-inspiring view of the three predominant pyramids of Giza on the horizon.
Sadly that is the place the go to ends at current till a gap date is lastly introduced, at present regarded as later this yr. Delays have been attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Arab Spring disaster in 2011, and now it seems that the Israel-Gaza conflict has had an extra influence on the opening date.
Nevertheless, earlier than I depart the museum, archaeologist Tarek Sarhan reveals one final secret.
A small window has been created above the doorway to permit a ray of solar to shine straight on to the large Ramses II statue twice a yr, in the identical means that the ancients designed his tomb for a ray to shine on the faces of the Holiest of Holies alongside the again wall.
This can subsequent occur on October 22 – may this scene match for an Indiana Jones film be the second the museum is lastly opened?
Desperate to set my eyes on the Tutankhamen artefacts, Tarek takes me to their present house within the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which nonetheless has the light appeal of the colonial period of when it was established in 1902.
With its 1000’s of dusty displays scattered across the many halls and galleries, the museum has the ambiance of a warehouse greater than an exhibition giving me the sensation that I’m making the discoveries for myself.
To enter the Tutankhamen room, I jostle with an impatient queue earlier than lastly squeezing into the darkened gallery, with warning cries of ‘No photograph’ and ‘Hold shifting’ being bellowed repeatedly by the museum guards. However even the cramped and boisterous situations can’t dampen the shining glory of the demise masks, well-known to the world however whose influence and wonder can solely be felt in individual. Quickly, these treasures will likely be transferred to the pristine new museum, leaving the chaos and dirt behind.
The Egyptian vacationer authority is putting in widespread plans to make the brand new museum and the pyramids with the Sphinx extra accessible, with a brand new airport opened close by and a 18-lane motorway linking the town. However it is usually trying to rejuvenate the town itself with the creation of a lake and park surrounding the just lately opened Nationwide Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, which is house to the Mummies Corridor.
The brand new Grand Egyptian Museum
(Ben Mitchell/PA)
The 22 mummies, together with 18 kings and 4 queens, had been transferred in April 2021 from the outdated museum in a procession accompanied with monumental pomp and circumstance by the town’s streets.
Not that it is just these newly-built points of interest that make Cairo a must-see, moderately a pit-stop on the way in which to the opposite predominant exhibits in Luxor and Abu Simbel. Tarek additionally exhibits me, in accordance with legend, the resting place of Jesus and the Virgin Mary throughout their exile as they fled from King Herod on the Coptic Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.
And that is subsequent door to the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which is on the location the place the child Moses was discovered on the Nile, though the river has lengthy retreated from this space.
Tarek additionally takes me to the gorgeous Sultan Hassan and El Refai mosques and the spectacular Mohamed Ali Mosque within the Citadel of Salah El Din, which dominates the skyline of the bustling metropolis.
As dusty and intimidating as the town may be, which is unfathomably house to 25 million folks, it’s not troublesome to seek out oases of calm – such because the 5* Waldorf Astoria Heliopolis Lodge the place I’m staying.
Its spacious atrium, tall sufficient to include a number of palm timber, acts as a welcome and peaceable barrier to the incessant horn-beeping of the clogged roads past.
And because the metropolis buildings are modernising, plainly the sense of customer support can also be catching up.
Egyptians have been much-maligned for his or her hard-sell strategies, however as I stroll by the streets of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, I’m solely greeted with smiles and nothing extra pushy than the jokey slogan parroted by the sellers: “How can I take your cash from you as we speak?”
It’s this rising sense of the significance of tourism, plus growing demand for the opposite Egyptian locations of Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, that led easyJet to launch final October a brand new year-round three-times per week flight to the brand new Cairo Sphinx airport from London Luton flying Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
And as I head house after a protracted weekend keep, the minister’s phrases echo in my head. and I realise that I too have change into besotted by the legend of the pyramids.
