Egypt opens colossal new antiquities museum

Prime ministers, presidents and royalty descended on Cairo on Saturday to attend the spectacle-laden inauguration of a sprawling new museum built near the Pyramids to house one of the world's richest collections of antiquities.



The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, marks the end of a two-decade construction effort hampered by the Arab Spring uprisings, pandemic and wars in neighbouring countries.



Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a press conference "We've all dreamed of this project and whether it would really come true," calling the museum a "gift from Egypt to the whole world from a country whose history goes back more than 7,000 years."



Spectators including President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gathered late on Saturday before an enormous screen outside the museum, which projected images of the country's most famous cultural sites as dancers in glittering pharaonic-style garb waved glowing orbs and scepters.