2022 is in a few days and Egypt has amazing plans for the year! One of which is the opening of what is billed as the world’s largest museum of Egyptian civilization.

According to the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt; Mostafa Waziri, the launching of the Grand Museum which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will now be ready for the second half of next year.

Speaking at the Egypt Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai on Sunday, Waziri revealed that construction was now complete, and work on the display areas was ongoing.

Waziri added: “We can confirm that we have completed work on the exhibits that will be displayed at the Grand Museum. We are on track to open the museum in the second half of 2022.”

The museum which is spread across 117 acres, will sit near the iconic Giza Pyramids.

During the symposium on excavations in Egypt, Waziri reviewed recent discoveries and revealed more projects to excavate ancient Egyptian treasures. He said:

“What we see above the surface of the earth in Egypt does not exceed 40 percent of the antiquities contained below the ground. More than 50 Egyptian missions are working at various sites, and discoveries in Luxor, Minya, Sohag, Saqqara, Cairo, and the Lower Egypt region have surprised the world.”

Waziri also revealed how Egyptian teams had managed to restore very important statues in the Luxor area, including a statue of King Ramses II, who ruled Egypt between 1279 and 1213 BC. Egypt unveiled this statue, which is 12 meters high and weighs 65 tons, in April 2017 as part of a major restoration campaign in Luxor.

Fustat, the home of the new museum, was the site of Egypt’s capital under the Umayyad dynasty after the Arab conquest.