After 20 Years, Egypt Unveils Monumental Museum Fit for the Pharaohs
As the Grand Egyptian Museum Opens, an Oakland Museum is robbed of 1,000 Native American artifacts and 4 arrested in Louvre heist of royal jewels.
I have some good, bad, and ugly news related to museums around the world.
Let’s start with the good. After 20 years, a period which included struggles with the Islamic extremist group Muslim Brotherhood, the Grand Egyptian Museum opened after a glamorous ceremony worthy of Cleopatra the Great.
Spectators including President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gathered late on Saturday before an enormous screen outside the museum, which projected images of the country’s most famous cultural sites as dancers in glittering pharaonic-style garb waved glowing orbs and scepters.
They were accompanied by Egyptian pop stars and an international orchestra decked out in white beneath a sky lit with lasers, fireworks and hovering lights that formed into moving hieroglyphics.
By opening the museum, Egypt was “writing a new chapter in the story of this ancient nation’s present and future,” Sisi said at the opening.
The audience included German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, and the crown princes of Oman and Bahrain.
Egypt celebrated its rich heritage with an unforgettable inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum. https://t.co/HkNmQHaU3M pic.twitter.com/4p3P6KFNPn
— Muse (@xmuse_) November 2, 2025
One of the main attractions for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will be the fabulous artifacts from King Tutankhamen’s tomb.
A main draw of the GEM will be the entire contents of the intact tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, displayed together for the first time since it was found by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. They include Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask, throne and chariots.
“I had to think, how can we show him in a different way, because since the discovery of the tomb in 1922, about 1,800 pieces from a total of over 5,500 that were inside the tomb were on display,” says Dr Tarek Tawfik, president of the International Association of Egyptologists and former head of the GEM.
“I had the idea of displaying the complete tomb, which means nothing remains in storage, nothing remains in other museums, and you get to have the complete experience, the way Howard Carter had it over a hundred years ago.”
The entire ceremony was iconic, just like the ancient land.
Now, onto the bad. Legal Insurrection has written about Oakland, California, which is a crime-ridden swamp of leftism and corruption.
Now it’s being reported that more than 1,000 items and historical artifacts have been stolen in an early morning heist from the Oakland Museum’s off-site collection.
Authorities said that the suspect or suspects broke into the facility and stole more than 1,000 items from the museum’s collection, including “Native American baskets, jewelry [and] laptops,” according to a statement from the Oakland Police Department.
“The theft that occurred represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said Oakland Museum of California Executive Director and CEO Lori Fogarty. “Most of these objects have been given to the Museum by generous donors. We are working in close partnership with the City of Oakland, the Oakland Police Department, and the FBI to see that these objects are returned.”
OPD and the FBI, is investigating a burglary that occurred at the Oakland Museum of California’s off-site storage facility. The suspect(s) broke into the facility and stole more than 1,000 items from the Museum’s collection.
More in the linkhttps://t.co/Oc409w1A5Z pic.twitter.com/9Vx2L1yNqA
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) October 29, 2025
I will wrap up the museum news with the “ugly.” Now four people have been formally charged in connection with the dramatic heist at the Louvre in Paris. The stolen collection, valued at approximately $102 million, remains missing. The suspects used stolen construction equipment to breach security, breaking in via a balcony and cutting open display cases in the Gallery of Apollo, making off with jewels that include imperial-era treasures associated with 19th-century French royalty.
The prosecutor said in a statement on Saturday that two of the five people who were arrested on Wednesday have been charged. One, a 37-year-old alleged to be part of the four-man team that police believe carried out the heist, has been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said he was already known to judicial authorities. The other, a 38-year-old woman, has been charged with complicity in preparing the crime.
Two other men, also alleged to be a part of the foursome, were arrested a week ago. They have also been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy.
The man and woman charged on Saturday were found through DNA and cell phone records, the prosecutor said.
There are likely several contributing factors here, including the head of the museum’s security being a diversity hire.
https://t.co/aXAKolbKIi
'Woke to blame for Louvre robbery': Female museum security chief accused of being a 'diversity hire' comes under fire as politicians say heist has made France 'the laughing stock of the world'. #DEIThe Louvre's head of security has been accused of…
— Old South Meeting House (@BostonCharlie5) October 29, 2025
And a final thought, tying the two ends of this post together….this is me at the Louvre’s Egyptian collection in 2015:
No, I didn't participate in the Grand Egyptian Museum opening ceremony…but I could have. pic.twitter.com/xABTELz2Ct
— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) November 3, 2025
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Comments
Let’s hope the Egyptians have better security than the Louvre or the museum in Oakland. With all those King Tut artifacts in one place I’m sure plans are being drawn up all over the place to steal them. It’s only a matter of time.
If that museum were located in America I’m sure the opening ceremony would be camp and include Steve Martin performing “King Tut” as the main act.
Pretty sure Egypt isn’t into diversity hires and besides that, the Algerians that pulled off the heist wouldn’t be safe in Africa. Egypt would go find them.
The bigger concern is out-and-out destruction of it all by Muslims. Egypt’s heyday occurred in the Islamic period called Jahiliyyah, meaning “age of ignorance.” That is, the period before Big Mo came along and made up his political system masquerading as a religion.
It must be grand to find a relative on display in the Louvre.
the obama backed chicago connected mobrohood
and the whitewashing of the jewish slaves who built it
nice touch
yes chris rock said it was
books
that were the kryptonite
No American dignitaries at the Egyptian museum opening?
It was an odd mix of people.
Definitely want to go to Egypt now, more than ever
Truth be told, have been a bit concerned with Muslim terrorism
The native americans had laptops? Who knew!
stolen from the wht man
Shhhhh… no one tell the current Egyptians that the ancient Egyptians weren’t muslims,
And a final thought, tying the two ends of this post together….this is me at the Louvre’s Egyptian collection in 2015:
well I like that you didnt even wear a shirt
Was there in April before the grand opening, superb museum
“stole more than 1,000 items from the museum’s collection, including “Native American baskets, jewelry [and] laptops,” according to a statement from the Oakland Police Department.”
Tell us more about these Native American laptops.
(The dreaded zeugma strikes again!)
“‘Woke to blame for Louvre robbery’: Female museum security chief accused of being a ‘diversity hire'”
You mean, having the password be “Louvre” was a bad choice?
It was also a bad idea to have security consultant Thales who set up the system have their password “Thales”. Combine with the 1st Female Director of The Lourve hiring the 1st Female Head of Security, so many first’s, and you have a bunch of woke bureaucrats spending so much time slapping each other on the back for being so enlightened and progressive eveyone forgot install actual security especially when the country was being invaded by tens of thousands of muslims that no one knew who they were.
Egypt celibrating the heritage, the direct descendents of whom the moslems are trying to kill, and the government actively and horrendously discriminates against, those Egyptians who are more directly connected to that heritage, the Coptics.