Egypt shuts down Grand Egyptian Museum in preparation for official opening

CAIRO - Egypt's Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is temporarily closed to the public from Oct 15 to Nov 3 in preparation for its official opening, scheduled for early November, according to an announcement published Monday on the museum's official website.

Following a nearly year-long soft-opening phase, the museum will be officially inaugurated in a grand ceremony on Nov 1 and will reopen on Nov 4.

The museum's trial phase included 12 galleries displaying thousands of artifacts, as well as the Grand Staircase showcasing monumental statues and artifacts from different periods of ancient Egyptian history.

Throughout the soft-opening period, officials kept the vast Tutankhamun Hall closed to preserve it as the centerpiece of the grand opening. The hall will feature the complete collection of the young king -- some 5,398 pieces -- including his iconic golden mask, two coffins, and other treasures, according to Egypt's official MENA news agency.

Located near the iconic Giza pyramids and spanning nearly 500,000 square meters, the GEM is billed as the world's largest archaeological museum dedicated to a single civilization, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said.