CAIRO (voa) – Egyptian officials plan to showcase the treasures of King Tutankhamun in a giant new museum near the pyramids in Giza. And, they have announced an international competition to design the new facility.
The Egyptian Museum in central Cairo is too small to display all of the 3,500 artifacts of the so-called “boy king,” who ruled Egypt for nine years – more than 3,300 years ago.
Egypt’s culture minister says the new facility for King Tut’s treasures will also serve as a cultural center. It will have the latest information technology and will be fully integrated into the Internet.
The minister also says the present downtown museum will be refurbished to display collections of other Egyptian antiquities.
The cost of the “Grand Egyptian Museum” project is estimated at $350 million. The design competition is under the patronage of the U.N.’s cultural body, UNESCO. The winner of that competition is to be announced in May, 2003.
