What if the pharaohs were competing for Guinness World Records?
In recent years, the Egyptian authorities have focused on giving the capital city a new look, with megaprojects that aspire to be the largest in the region and the world
For an ambitious leader, governing the land of the pharaohs must be a source of inspiration, and a difficult legacy to live up to. Virtually any project they decide to undertake — however colossal — will fall far short of what their predecessors built thousands of years ago: the mortuary temple of the queen-pharaoh Hatshepsut, the temples of Abu Simbel (built by Ramses II), or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Given this monumental legacy, how can Egypt reclaim what many Egyptians still believe is its rightful place among the world’s leading nations? Well, since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power more than a decade ago, one of his strategies for achieving this goal — and laying the foundations for what he has dubbed a “New Republic” — has been to invest in even more pharaonic megaprojects. In other words, to embrace tradition.
The result in Greater Cairo — the metropolitan area centered around the capital — has been the emergence of all kinds of projects that aspire (with an almost-obsessive focus) to be the most impressive in the region and, perhaps, in the world. One of the latest — and perhaps the most majestic — is the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the so-called “fourth pyramid.” Inaugurated just a year ago, it’s considered the largest museum in the world devoted to a single civilization: that of Ancient Egypt. Officials have also boasted that the GEM is actually larger than the Louvre in Paris and several times larger than the Prado Museum in Madrid (although this depends on how each museum measures its respective surface area).
The government’s redesign plan extends, above all, to major infrastructure projects. Since 2019 — in an attempt to ease congestion — the city has boasted the world’s widest cable-stayed bridge, the Tahya Misr (meaning “Long Live Egypt!”), at 220 feet wide with six lanes on each side (and certified by Guinness World Records). Meanwhile, in the transit sector, a 60-mile monorail system is already under construction, aiming to become the longest driverless network on the planet in the coming years. And the Adly Mansour Transportation Hub has been described as the largest in the Middle East.
Nowhere is this commitment more evident than in the New Administrative Capital, which Egypt began building in 2015, in the middle of the desert east of Cairo. It has gradually come to life over the past three years. Inspired by its lavish Gulf neighbors, though without the same financial resources, the city’s financial district boasts a skyscraper that soars to nearly 1,300 feet, making it the tallest in Africa. And, in its government district, a flagpole that’s over 650 feet tall has stood since 2021, recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest in the world (though the flag is often not flown, due to strong gusts of wind).
Records seem to be set everywhere you look in the Administrative Capital: the opera house built in the City of Arts and Culture — where the opera singers José Carreras and Plácido Domingo performed this past February — has the capacity to seat over 2,000 spectators and is considered to be the largest in the Middle East. The Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ — which remains empty for most of the year, but where Al-Sisi likes to offer Coptic Christmas greetings — can accommodate more than 8,000 worshippers, making it the largest in the region. And the St. Regis hotel boasts what is claimed to be the largest convention hall in the Middle East and Africa, where an international summit on Gaza — attended by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, among other world leaders — was held in October 2023.
However, amidst this ambitious undertaking, perhaps the most emblematic project in this part of Egypt was inaugurated back in July: a new military headquarters, covering a staggering 35 square miles and comprising eight interconnected main buildings. It has only just begun operations, but one of its early distinctions is surpassing the Pentagon not only in size but also in its name: the Octagon.
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