Art World
The Grand Egyptian Museum Needs To Find an Additional $300 Million
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has revealed that it needs to find $300 million to complete the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egyptian Streets reported.
The museum, whose construction began in earnest in 2012, was slated to open this summer. It will be Egypt’s largest and primary museum, built over 117 acres near the Giza Pyramids.
The additional funding required brings the total cost of the museum to $1.1 billion, according to Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Al-Damaty, who blamed the ballooning costs on the weakness of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar.
The Egyptian government has stepped in to provide $37 million. The Japanese Agency for Development Cooperation has forked out an additional $140 million.
Defending the eye-watering price tag, Egypt insists that the museum will strengthen the country’s economy and that it has “universal human value.”
According to the Grand Egyptian Museum website, the new building aims to “send a global message that the Egyptian Civilization will always be a source of enlightenment.”
Aside from out-of-control costs, the Grand Egyptian Museum also made the headlines in March, when King Tutankhamun’s throne was damaged during a transfer from the Egyptian Museum (see King Tut’s Chair Damaged During Transport to New Giza Museum).
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