Lucia Gahlin on the Newly Re-opened GEM

I have just visited the new Tutankhamun galleries at the spectacular Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo. They are breath-taking. With a view of the pyramids at Giza, these galleries display the entire collection of treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb back in 1922 for the first time ever. Well over 5000 of them! Even if you visited Tutankhamun’s treasures when a good number of them were on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, or even if you have been lucky enough to catch one of the touring exhibitions of his artifacts in recent decades,  nothing can prepare you for how fabulous the new display is, many of the objects being exhibited for the first time.

The GEM is the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilisation, and of course we will now be visiting it on all our tours to Egypt, but I would urge you to also visit the Tomb of Tutankhamun, because it is utterly mind-boggling to imagine how possibly the 5000+ objects we see in the GEM could have ever fitted into this small tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Wonderful paintings adorn the walls of the burial chamber and not only the boy-king’s decorated quartzite sarcophagus, but also his body, can still be seen in his tomb.

Both the GEM and the Tomb of Tutankhamun are included in the itinerary for Egypt – Highlights and Discoveries, and Egypt Encompassed. The latter is the most comprehensive Egypt tour we do, and on that tour we also get to visit Tutankhamun’s home town – ancient Akhetaten (‘Horizon of the Sun’s Disc’), modern Tell el-Amarna, a rarely-visited site and one of ongoing excavation. It’s a fascinating archaeological site dear to my heart as I have worked as the Small Finds Registrar there, identifying and drawing many objects including ring bezels with Tutankhamun’s name in hieroglyphs. 

Now is the time to experience Tutankhamun in Egypt in all his glory. 

Lucia Gahlin 

17 November 2025