Egypt opened a series of galleries to the public on Tuesday in its flagship new museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), located near the pyramids of Giza.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly last week announced a "trial opening" ahead of a formal inauguration. Egyptian officials say a number of world leaders have expressed interest in attending the official opening but have not indicated when this will take place.
The museum's main entrance hall with its stairway of Pharaonic statues and an annex for commercial shopping opened to the public in February 2023.
Ali Abu Al-Shish, a member of the Egyptian Archaeologists Union who attended Tuesday's opening of almost a dozen galleries, said the trial operation of the vast museum was evidence Egypt now had the space to exhibit its antiquities, including those being returned by Western states and museums.
It's an "important message that we can recover our antiquities, which are spread across various countries in the world," he said.
Visiting Russian tourist Kseniia Muse said: "We are so happy to be here, to have visited these beautiful sculptures... It is very modern and at the same time you can touch the ancient."
Tourism is an important source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt. The government has been trying to increase tourist numbers after facing a long-running foreign currency shortage that was exacerbated by external shocks.
Until now, Egypt's most famous collections have been housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square, which has been largely unmodernized and unrenovated since opening in 1902.
