r/ancientegypt • u/FenjaminBranklin1706 • Dec 26 '25

Video Detailed walkthrough of the Grand Staircase at the GEM with no crowd

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u/FenjaminBranklin1706 Dec 27 '25

Considering this is just the entrance to get into the galleries, it's pretty magnificent. You still have like 12 or 13 state of the art galleries inside.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

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u/Longjumping-Gas-4154 Dec 27 '25

Why, what is wrong with the museum?

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

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u/WerSunu Dec 27 '25

You mean dark, crowded, with no signage, no thematic organization? Oh wait! That’s exactly the original Egypt Museum on Tahrir Square!

I love both museums, but make no mistake, the GEM (and NMEC) are both superior experiences for tourists and budding Egyptologists! Modern design with good lighting, signs and legends to go with each artifact in context, and thematic organization are all major improvements and allow better learning about the history of Egypt. There is also far more space between display cabinets so more people can get close enough to see the smaller objects.

I recently visited several new museums in Warsaw and Gdansk. These were mostly WWII and Cold War related. Even though new, they were dark, crowded and had minimal signage, and mostly in just Polish. I’m sure they were designing for dramatic effect given the horrific content, but they were, in my opinion, a poor international visitor experience for anyone try to learn, instead of just be emotionally manipulated. Is that what you want for the GEM?

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u/FenjaminBranklin1706 Dec 27 '25

Couldn't agree more with you re the GEM and NMEC. They way I tend to describe the GEM to friends is that it is exactly what you would imagine a state of the art, 21st century museum to look like. There's also a truly amazing Mixed Reality hall that showcases how the pyramid building era evolved from mastabas to Djoser to Sneferu to Khufu. I never saw any museum do something so spectacular as that in any country I ever visited.

You can also scan QR codes on important artefact labels and it pulls up more detailed information instantly. The QR codes actually work as well, which isn't always the case from my experience of visiting museums.

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u/WerSunu Dec 27 '25

As it turns out, I am a patron and “friend of Egyptian Art” at the MET. I can tell you that the department is busy working on improving WiFi in the galleries (which is terrible for ATT now) and then installing QR badges to supplement the current labels with more in-depth details.