On November 1, 2025, Egypt officially inaugurated the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), a billion-dollar cultural project located on the Giza Plateau, just meters from the Pyramids. Spanning nearly 500,000 square meters, the GEM is being touted as the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization. Its most dramatic feature is the complete collection of King Tutankhamun’s treasures now displayed together for the first time since their 1922 discovery. In total, the GEM will showcase more than 50,000 objects, drawn from across three millennia of Egyptian history.

And it’s not just a cultural event. By consolidating its heritage in a world-class institution, Egypt is underlining its capacity to preserve and present its own legacy, challenging centuries-old Western claims that only they could be the stewards of these treasures.

For decades, Western museums have insisted that artifacts taken from Egypt during the colonial era were safer in London, Berlin, or Paris rather than in Cairo. This argument repeated endlessly since the 19th century rested on claims that Egypt lacked the facilities, conservation expertise, or political stability to care for such items. Institutions such as the British Museum and the Neues Museum still cite these rationales today when resisting repatriation requests. But the GEM’s scale, technology, and conservation capacity render these justifications obsolete.

The GEM’s commitment to preservation is unmatched. Its archaeology-focused conservation center, the largest in the region, cleaned, restored, and prepared all 5,398 Tutankhamun artifacts in purpose-built laboratories with advanced climate control and seismic protection. By dedicating this level of technology and expertise to its heritage, Egypt has arguably surpassed many older Western institutions.

The question now becomes a moral one: If Egypt can build the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single civilization, why do some of its most iconic treasures remain abroad? Take the Rosetta Stone. Now the........

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