King Tutankhamun’s treasures have been placed in 65 per cent of their display cases in the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said.
When the huge museum near the Giza Pyramids opens this year, it will house the boy king’s entire collection of more than 5,300 artefacts for the first time since his tomb was discovered in Luxor nearly 100 years ago.
Only 200 of pharaoh's artefacts have not yet been transferred , said Al Tayeb Abbas, assistant minister of tourism and antiquities at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The treasures, expected to be the museum’s star attraction, will be in a hall covering 7,500 square metres.
The 107 display cases from Germany and Italy have been installed in their permanent places in the two Tutankhamun galleries, the ministry said.
The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled El Enany, visited the museum on Monday.
Installation of artefacts in the atrium and the grand staircase has also been completed and fine restoration of the pieces is taking place.
Mr El Enany thanked the museum staff for their efforts to finish the project this year, and said the King Tutankhamun hall will rival displays at the world’s largest and best museums.
When the Grand Egyptian Museum is completed at a cost of about $1 billion, it will have room to display 100,000 artefacts.
The 60,000-square-metre building has been built on a plot of nearly 500,000 square metres, about two kilometres from the Giza Pyramids plateau.
It has been in the works since a worldwide architectural competition was announced in 2002.
But completion has had several delays because of political and economic instability after the 2011 revolution, and travel and tourism challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ministry has been reluctant to announce a definite opening date, as it hopes to inaugurate the museum with a grand celebration and invite dignitaries from all over the world.
King Tutankhamun and his mask have become the symbols of ancient Egypt. Maybe a lot of people don't know anything about Egypt, but they will know King Tutankhamun,
So far, 55,000 artefacts have been transferred and are being restored in the conservation centre.
They cover thousands of years from prehistoric times to Egypt’s pharaonic civilisation, to its ancient Greek and Roman periods.
The first artefact to be installed in the museum in January 2018 was the 83-tonne, 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses the Great.
The atrium was built around the statue, which stands more than 20 metres high.
The third and fourth shrines of Tutankhamun are among the treasures that have been installed.
Many of the treasures are still at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, including the famous golden death mask that was entombed in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings and has since toured the world.
British archaeologist Howard Carter became world famous when he discovered the intact tomb of the 18th dynasty pharaoh in 1922.
“Mummy mania started with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun because it was the only tomb of a royal king that was found sealed with all of its objects,” said Sahar Saleem, the radiologist who conducted the CT scan of King Tutankhamun’s mummy in 2005.
Tutankhamun died at 18 or 19, with the cause of death still debated by Egyptologists. His reign lasted only nine years.
About 150 of Tutankhamun’s treasures went on their last world tour in 2018 before returning to Egypt.
“King Tutankhamun and his mask have become the symbols of ancient Egypt," Ms Saleem said.
"Maybe a lot of people don’t know anything about Egypt but they will know King Tutankhamun."
After the Pharaohs Golden Parade in April, which transferred 22 royal mummies to the Egyptian Museum of National Civilisation, Mr El Enany said another procession would be held to move Tutankhamun’s golden mask and sarcophagus to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
But those plans have not been confirmed.
As for Tutankhamun's mummy, Egypt's former antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told CNN in August 2020: “The people of Luxor think that their grandfather should stay there.
"And I really do respect this. The mummy will stay there.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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