Smart museums and the role of the Grand Egyptian Museum in protecting heritage

In the era of smart museums, heritage is no longer just artifacts between silent walls, but has become an interactive digital experience that combines the past with modern technologies. The Grand Egyptian Museum is a prominent example of this transformation, as it includes more than 100,000 artifacts and employs the latest mixed reality, artificial intelligence and digital archiving tools to create an unprecedented experience for visitors that shapes the future of museums.

As Ahmed Ghoneim, the museum's CEO, says: "Using HoloLens technology, the visitor not only looks at history, but enters it."

In this article, we review how GEM has become one of the world's leading smart museums, embodying a blend of cultural innovation and technological leadership that is changing our view of museums and heritage.

Interactive display technologies: Augmented and Mixed Reality The museum provides visitors with Microsoft HoloLens glasses, which offer a unique mixed reality experience, where the visitor wears the glasses to witness an immediate transformation, the monuments turn into 3D displays surrounded by virtual scenes, and the pyramids appear with a combination of light and sound, to listen to the historical narrative in the voice of actor Ahmed Helmy.

One of the most famous experiences is the Royal Burial Journey, where the visitor virtually walks between simulated burial chambers and witnesses the evolution of burial methods in ancient Egyptian civilization, from simple tombs to the Giza pyramids. The show is not recorded on a screen, but rather an immersive three-dimensional experience in which the visitor participates directly.

Interactive digital displays: Stories of Egyptian civilization The museum features huge screens with high-definition animation technology:

Pyramid Builders: An animated series that follows an ordinary day in the lives of the workers building the Great Pyramid, showing detailed scenes of the workers' lives, movements, and tools. Houses of Eternity: Four illuminated cubes displaying colorful tomb paintings that illustrate how Egyptians prepared for the afterlife. The Book of Two Ways: A huge screen depicting the deceased's spiritual journey through the afterlife, based on the oldest known map of the afterlife. Expedition to Punt: A curved cinema screen recreating the famous trade expedition of Queen Hatshepsut. New Kingdom Empire: Walls decorated with paintings from the temples of Luxor illustrating the power of the pharaohs. Hymn to the Aten (تسبيحة آتن): A multi-screen display depicting King Akhenaten worshipping the sun god with verses from religious texts. The Four Cavern Galleries: Specialist Immersive Experiences What makes the Grand Egyptian Museum one of the smartest museums of the modern era is that it also contains four specially designed, isolated cavernous galleries that combine physical exhibits with digital displays:

Priestesses of Hathor: Dedicated to the royal priestesses of the goddess Hathor, goddess of music and fertility, it displays the belongings of the priestess Amunet with illuminated screens and an audio performance of an ancient hymn. Valley of the Kings: Displays objects from the royal tombs on the west bank of Luxor, along with multimedia presentations illustrating the king's spiritual journey to the afterlife. Deir el-Medina: Representing the ancient town of Deir el-Medina, the home of the artists who decorated the royal tombs, it includes a detailed reconstruction of a traditional village house with archaeological exhibits. Alexandria Underwater: Dedicated to the sunken cities of ancient Alexandria, it features animations and screens illustrating divers exploring submerged sites, with a focus on the Lighthouse of Alexandria, its palace, and its submerged temple. Tutankhamun's Tomb: A Complete Virtual Simulation The virtual reality experience at the Grand Egyptian Museum takes the visitor back to the moment of the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, where he virtually walks through the chambers of the tomb as they appeared on the day it was first opened.

The experience is based on original archival photographs and excerpts from the memoirs of archaeologist Howard Carter, with accurate sound effects and lighting that reconstruct the atmosphere of the historical event.

The show focuses on the moment Carter utters his famous phrase "Wonderful things!" upon opening the entrance, allowing the visitor to relive the atmosphere of discovery in its entirety, with a scientific narrative that keeps pace with historical sources and observations, presenting an immersive and reliable cinematic experience that reflects the depth of the archaeological achievement of that era.

Artificial intelligence and smart applications Manitou app: The first intelligent hieroglyphic translator, winner of the Huawei Developer Competition 2024, uses computer vision to recognize hieroglyphic symbols and translates them into Arabic and English with full historical context. The digital experience upon entry: The visitor takes a picture of himself, chooses which artifact he wants to appear next to him, and the picture is projected onto the virtual artifact instantly and he receives it via email for free. According to Ahmed Ghoneim, CEO of the Grand Egyptian Museum: "It's a modern way to connect visitors with the museum's treasures and leave them with a personal memento of their visit."

Digital archiving and scientific preservation The museum uses 3D scanning technology to create accurate digital replicas of each artifact. A team from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) trained Egyptian teams on the use of high-resolution handheld scanners.

The restoration center at the Egyptian Museum covers 32,000 square meters with 19 specialized laboratories: six laboratories for actual restoration (wood, organic, inorganic, stone, mummies, heavy artifacts) and laboratories for preventive maintenance and inspection.

Before restoring any complex piece, the process is fully digitally simulated, so the team can see the virtual result before touching the original, to reduce the risk of error and ensure that best scientific practices are followed.

Smart museum management and environmental conservation The Internet of Things (IoT) sensor network continuously monitors the museum in terms of temperature, relative humidity, and lighting. The system operates automatically without manual intervention to ensure a stable, ideal environment for the museum.

The security system relies on advanced computer vision cameras, which instantly analyze video to detect any abnormal movements, monitor unauthorized approach to valuable artifacts, and use facial recognition to identify people on no-go lists.

The impact of the Grand Egyptian Museum on the Egyptian economy and tourism Egypt saw a 24% increase in tourists in the first half of 2025, reaching 8.7 million visitors, and the museum is expected to attract 5 million visitors annually.

Every dollar spent by a tourist generates an additional 2-3 dollars in the wider economy. Tourism currently contributes 8.5% of GDP, and with the museum's success, it is expected to reach 10%, which means billions of dollars annually in additional revenue.

Inclusion policies and facilitating museum visits The Grand Egyptian Museum is committed to providing an inclusive experience that ensures accessibility for all visitors. Facilities include touch maps and Braille for the visually impaired, complimentary golf carts for people with disabilities, and an online booking system with facial recognition technology. Children under six and people with disabilities also receive free admission, reflecting the museum's commitment to inclusion and cultural equality.

The Grand Museum: The Future of Smart Museums The Grand Egyptian Museum integrates history, technology, and economics into a single, comprehensive experience, housing 100,000 artifacts that tell the story of 5,000 years of civilization, and supported by AR, VR, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things.

This combination puts Egypt at the forefront globally in terms of employing technology to preserve cultural heritage, proving that the past and the future can go hand in hand, and that technology is not an enemy of culture, but a powerful tool for reviving it.