Cairo, Egypt 2025
A project of epic proportions that befits its subject matter – the Grand Egyptian Museum is a vast, billion-dollar complex, decades in the making. Designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, the museum is located on the Giza Plateau approximately two kilometers from the Pyramids of Giza, and occupies around 500,000-square meters. It is Egypt’s largest museum and one of the world’s leading scientific, historical and archaeological study centers. Within its halls, scope and scale are also immense: 3,500 years of ancient Egyptian history, revealed through a collection of more than 100,000 artifacts.
Display Exhibition Designer
Atelier Brückner; Haley Sharpe with Cultural Innovations
Goppion is very proud to be involved in such a major contribution to global culture. In 2017 we were selected through an international competition to design, manufacture and install a total of 122 display cases for the new Museum’s priceless, ancient artifacts. Such was the scale of this cultural mega-project, our work has been divided into two phases.
Phase 1: Tutankhamun Gallery, Discovery and Lifestyle Area
Exhibition Design: Atelier Brückner
The first phase, completed in 2021, required 50 customized conservation-grade museum display cases. These were destined for the spectacular Tutankhamun Gallery, which hosts a collection of some 5,000 artifacts that belonged to the pharaoh.
King Tut’s reign was brief (around 1332–1323 BCE), yet his name has achieved enduring global fame since the remarkable discovery of his almost wholly intact tomb a century ago, in 1922. This stunning gallery is, in itself, a landmark: the first time the Tutankhamun Collection has been publicly displayed in its entirety.
One of the many treasures found in the inner part of the tomb was a fan belonging to Tutankhamun, made from ostrich feathers with an ivory handle beautifully decorated with gold and lapis lazuli. The ostrich feathers were collected by the young king on a hunting expedition more than 3,000 years ago, and like many artifacts from the tomb, are remarkably well preserved.
Journal
Protecting Tutankhamun's Ivory Fan at the GEM
The strictest conservation requirements were paramount for displaying the fan, and indeed this applied throughout the Museum; objects in the collection include very fragile textiles, metals, wood and other organic materials. Goppion’s state-of-the-art solutions include features such as airtight 0.1 AER, passive and active climate control (managing relative humidity, temperature and nitrogen levels), dedicated LED adjustable lighting, and personalized interiors.
Chariots were one of the supreme engineering achievements of ancient Egypt, and among the numerous star attractions in the Tutankhamun Gallery are the pharaoh’s five gold chariots. These required a huge showcase – 12m x 5m x 3m height. Display cases of this size have many structural challenges; our extensive experience working with large objects once more proved invaluable when creating the very best solution to house these dramatic relics from the ancient world.
Journal
Chariots of the Boy-King
Phase 2: Main Galleries
Exhibition design: Haley Sharpe with Cultural Innovations
Phase 2 required Goppion to produce a further 72 customized and modular conservation-grade museum display cases of various dimensions for 12 main galleries. We performed engineering, prototyping, production and installation for all display cases. Additionally, part of our responsibility – in cooperation with the GEM team – included the implementation of technical solutions that enhance both legibility and sustainability of the showcases.
A centralized, remote-controlled climate control system was developed, with a diffusion of treated air through significant distances and differentiated RH level in different showcases.
Similar construction systems were employed, incorporating both aesthetic and functional qualities. Magnetic concealed gaskets, security concealed locks, 0.1 airtightness, glass joints, and appropriate opening systems were combined with a wide variety of showcases interiors. Plinths, panels, shelving, back panels, partitions were all factors in creating the final displays.
A particular challenge for the phase 2 project was creating the large showcase to host a spectacular mural from the tomb of founding Fourth Dynasty pharaoh, Sneferu. The mural is one of the oldest items in the GEM collection, dating back to the Old Kingdom, around 2700–2200 BCE. It spans 13 mud-plaster blocks, all unified by a horizontal colored band that runs across the lower part of each relief. It took great skill and care to ensure the mounted reliefs all lined up seamlessly for display, and that this painstakingly restored and very fragile artifact was fully protected both during and after the installation process.
Much anticipated, GEM officially inaugurated the museum on November 1, 2025. Ancient Egypt is still revealing its long-lost secrets: more than 40 archaeological missions – many led by local Egyptian teams – are currently uncovering more treasures that may, one day, also take their place at the monumental Grand Egyptian Museum. Even at a distance of millennia, the pharaohs exert an enduring power to captivate us all.