Cairo’s long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum opens to visitors for trial run

Cairo's Grand Egyptian Museum opened for a trial run on Wednesday, Oct. 16, after more than a decade of construction. Numerous delays marked the project, from the COVID-19 pandemic to turmoil throughout the region.

Now, the world's largest archeological museum has opened its main galleries. Included in the museum are a dozen halls displaying artifacts from ancient Egypt to thousands of visitors as part of a pilot program.

Jorge Licano, a tourist from Costa Rica, told The Associated Press about his experience at the museum, saying, "So far, amazing, there is a lot of history, there are a lot of things that we are not aware of, especially coming from the other side of the world, and seeing everything here, learning from the locals has been great."

The museum is near the pyramids at Giza and will host around 4,000 visitors in the experimental run to prepare for a grand opening. Officials say they believe that the thousands of visitors will give better insight into overcrowded areas of the building and how to streamline operations.

More than 100,000 ancient Egyptian treasures will be on display, with at least 15,000 artifacts dedicated to each individual hall. Furthermore, all of the halls are classified by dynasty and put in historical order.

The museum's completion comes as Egypt looks to ramp up tourism following setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Arab Spring from 2010-2011 .

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