Tutankhamun’s full tomb showcased for the first time in history after Egypt’s Grand Museum finally open its door for the visitors.
According to CBS News, Egypt's government will host dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries on Saturday, November 1, as it holds an official opening ceremony for the Grand Egyptian Museum, a $1 billion project decades in the making that was plagued by multiple delays and a ballooning of the budget.
The GEM is one of the largest museums in the world, and the largest dedicated to a single civilization: ancient Egypt.
Its subject matter spans some 7,000 years, from prehistory to the end of the Greek and Roman eras around 400 A.D.
The initial cost for the more than 5-million-square-foot, triangular-themed structure about a mile from the iconic pyramids of Giza was estimated at $500 million, but the final price tag was more than double that. Costing over $1 billion, the project was funded through Egyptian resources and international cooperation.
In front of the main entrance stands the imposing 53-foot-high Hanging Obelisk, the only such structure in the world.
The obelisk itself is about 3,500 years old, but it sits suspended overhead on a modern structure with a glass floor, so visitors can peer up and view its ancient inscriptions from an angle never before possible.
