Grand Egyptian Museum: What the opening ceremony said about the country

Event was expression of history and creative identity, says production designer Mohamed Attia

Lightning effects depicting the funerary mask of ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun light up the sky during the opening ceremony in Giza. AFP

For Mohamed Attia, the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum was not just another production. It was the culmination of decades of visual storytelling distilled into a single monumental stage.

An architect by training and one of Egypt’s leading production designers, Attia has shaped the visual identity of some of the country’s most ambitious films and television works. For more than 25 years, he has collaborated with celebrated directors like Mohamed Khan, Yousry Nasrallah, Marwan Hamed and Tarek El Erian on titles such as The Blue Elephant, Diamond Dust, The Originals and the Welad Rizk series.

“I’m responsible for the visual identity of the project,” he tells The National. “That means creating the world of the story – from set design and locations to the feel of every space.”

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We wanted to say two things: that we are modern and that we are deeply rooted

Mohamed Attia

That cinematic eye carried naturally into his work on Egypt’s most high-profile national ceremonies, among them the Pharaohs' Golden Parade and the Avenue of the Sphinxes. When discussions began nearly two years ago about the Grand Egyptian Museum's opening, it was with the same creative team. The project went through several design phases and pauses before crystallising into what millions saw on November 1.

The ceremony’s scope was immense, covering the museum plaza and its surrounding grounds. But Attia said the true challenge lay not in scale but in restraint and ensuring that the spectacle complemented, rather than overshadowed, the museum itself.

The stage, which spanned 28,000 square metres, was designed to feel like an organic extension of the site. Even the backstage area was placed below ground to preserve sightlines to the museum, the obelisk and the distant pyramids.

Mohamed Attia is the production designer behind the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum. Photo: Mohamed Attia

“We were celebrating the museum, not competing with it,” he says. His design followed the same geometric logic as the museum’s facade, composed of abstracted triangles inspired by the pyramids. The result, he explains, expressed pride in Egypt’s history and in its contemporary creative identity. “We wanted to say two things: that we are modern and that we are deeply rooted.”

Attia described the hour-long performance as a unified theatrical experience, merging stories of ancient Egyptian builders, the Nile, Tutankhamun and Ramses with modern Egypt’s artistic expression. “It’s hard to isolate one scene,” he says. “It was all connected in harmony, musically and visually.”

One of the most talked-about moments came when Egyptian Olympians appeared alongside young performers. For Attia, that scene encapsulated the message of the entire production, a bridge between heritage and the future. Even the actors, he noted, were chosen from Egypt’s new generation, representing the country’s emerging talent.

Despite the presence of world leaders, Attia said the production was not designed to appeal to them. “They came to experience our culture,” he adds. “Our goal was to satisfy the Egyptian and Arab audience first. Once they feel proud and moved, the rest of the world will appreciate it too.”

That philosophy also extended to the music, which blended operatic performance with Egyptian instruments such as the tabla and oud. The intent was to create a dialogue between authenticity and modernity. A mirror of the museum itself, where contemporary architecture houses ancient heritage.

“The point wasn’t to cater to international tastes,” he says. “It was to present our identity confidently. No artist or culture can stand out without staying rooted. If we abandon our roots, we’ll just become a photo-copy.”

The opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum highlighted the country's youthful energy and how strongly it is connected to its past. Getty Images

That principle guided all three of Egypt’s recent cultural spectacles: the Golden Parade, the Avenue of the Sphinxes and now the museum opening – each seeking to express Egyptian identity through a modern creative language.

The event’s opening film also reflected that ambition globally, showing an orchestra performing in cities such as Kyoto, Rio de Janeiro, New York and Paris, symbolising how Egyptian heritage exists across the world. The Grand Egyptian Museum, Attia says, now brings those cultural threads together in one monumental home.

When filming at the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, Attia was struck by how many artefacts remained there and in storage. The depth of Egypt’s heritage, he says, is staggering, and now it can finally be presented in a world-class way. He would like to see the museum serve both as a tourism landmark and as a space Egyptians embrace as their own.

His hopes for the museum are deeply personal. He wants it to stand among the great museums of the world, like the Louvre or the British Museum, but with a distinction all its own. “Ours is the only museum dedicated entirely to one civilisation,” he said. “Others collect from many cultures, but we tell one continuous story – ancient Egypt.”