A conservator works on an ancient stone statue in the Conservation Center of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo Jan. 3, 2017. On a vast area of cliffy land, some two kilometers north of the Great Pyramids of Giza on the outskirts of the capital Cairo, hundreds of workers and engineers race against time at the construction site of the museum for the soft opening of the region's largest museum in early 2018. The GEM can accommodate 100,000 artifacts, with 50,000 in constant display and another 50,000 stored in modern storehouses, said GEM General Director Tarek Tawfik, adding that among the 50,000 in future display, 30,000 have never been showed before. The grand opening of the museum will be before the end of 2022. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)
