museum complex in time for its planned opening in 2015. The country’s Ministry of Antiquities has launched a fundraising drive in response, asking tourists to add an optional donation of $1 per night to their hotel bills to go towards the project. 

Along a similar line, the archaeologist Bassam el-Shamaa has asked Egyptians to donate around 30 cents each. The grassroots fundraising drive has proven to be a great success, with around $7.5m already collected, including donations from Al-Ahly Bank, Banque Misr, and the Sawiris family, which owns the Orascom group of technology and construction companies.

The museum’s conservation centre has been complete since 2010, and around 12,000 artefacts have been moved there from storage sites around the country. The museum’s general manager, Mohamed Mostafa Abdel Megeed, aims to have 100,000 objects transferred before the opening next year, and to place 50,000 artefacts on display. When it is completed, the museum will be the new home to Tutankhamun’s treasures.

Meanwhile, local officials hope that the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, under construction since 2004 in Fustat, part of Old Cairo, will be ready for a “soft opening” later this year. This is unlikely, however, according to Christian Manhart, the head of museums and cultural objects section at Unesco, who estimates that around $20m of work is still needed on the main gallery, due to its size. According to Unesco, the museum will more probably open in 2015.

To help launch a fundraising drive, as well as to continue training staff for the new museum, Manhart says that Unesco, in agreement with the Egyptian government, will allocate just under $2m to the museum. This comes from a special account created between 1960 and 1980 as part of a campaign to save the endangered sites of Abu Simbel and Philae.

Unlike other museums in the country, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, focuses on all of Egypt’s cultures, from prehistory to the present. When finished, it will house the royal mummies, as well as objects from the Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic periods.