Understanding the news: The Grand Egyptian Museum's "Great King's Staircase"


If you haven't heard of the Grand Egyptian Museum | المتحف المصري الكبير or GEM (what an appropriate acronym in English!) then here's a short story about one of the museum's features; a "Great King's Staircase" which will feature various aspects of kingship, divinity, sculpture and funerary rituals. 

Hopefully this will have some sort of access for disabled visitors who may be unable to climb the stairs, because it sounds very impressive!

General Supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum Tarek Tawfik announced that the staircase will be divided into four parts which will feature different aspects of ancient Egypt from a royal perspective  with accompanying artefacts which will be displayed on the staircase. Some 24 of a planned 87 statues have been moved to the museum so far.

from the linked article:
The “Great Staircase” located in the Grand Egyptian Museum will focus on portraying the kings and gods of the Ancient Egyptian era. This part of the museum will be divided into four sections; the first section will focus on portraying how the King/God was sculptured during the ancient Egyptian Era. The sizes of the statues will be of various sizes, but all will be sculptured using the three dimensions effect. 

The second section will focus on the role of the king's priestly duties, the third with the king's role as intermediary with the gods, and the fourth concerns the funerary rituals associated with a royal burial.

The royal pyramids in Giza will be visible outside a panoramic window in the upper part of the “Great Staircase” to reflect the image of eternal royalty. 

Work on the museum began in 2012 after being delayed by the Revolution of the Arab Spring in 2011, which saw the collection in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo damaged and some items stolen (some of which have been recovered). The project has hit several snags and obstacles on the way, but many objects have now been painstakingly packed and moved from the Cairo Museum to the GEM in a process which has taken years of planning and many months to complete.

In the image from the article you can see the now installed colossal statue of Ramesses II which greets visitors. The museum will be home to thousands of artefacts, including the treasures from Tutankhamun's tomb. (KV62) Objects from the tomb of Psusennes are (at time of writing) to remain in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.[1]

Tip: You can search for other posts about the Grand Egyptian Museum by using the label search in the sidebar of the blog.

For more info see: Egypt to open new museum in hopes of boosting tourism By Randa Ali CAIRO — Jun 30, 2018
[1] The Egyptian Museum Cairo | المتحف المصري

GEM's Great Staircase to illustrate life of Ancient Egyptian gods/kings

CAIRO - 17 February 2019: General Supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum Tarek Tawfik affirmed that the artifacts set to be displayed on the "Kings' Great Staircase" will be transferred to the museum after completion of the construction works.


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