The carved faces of several pharaohs sail by me as I glide up the travelator in the Grand Stairs that bisects the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum. Around the start of the stairs are statues and objects from modernity. Then, as I ascend the equivalent of six floors, I go back in time through the Middle Kingdom, which started in 2,000 BC, up to a landing. Once there, I can look out at the iconic pyramids of Giza built 4,500 years ago by the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure during Egypt’s Old Kingdom. “Most people will go to the Egyptian…

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