Tutankhamun exhibition opens with pharaoh's gold mask, chariot and throne on display

The entire contents of Tutankhamun's tomb are on display for the first time since it was discovered by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. The exhibition will be a major draw for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), described as the world's largest archaeological museum, which has now opened and will display around 5,500 items from the tomb, including the boy king's gold mask, throne and chariots.

Dr Tarek Tawfik, former head of the GEM, said that only about 1,800 artefacts found inside Tutankhamun's tomb had been on display previously. However, the president of the International Association of Egyptologists wanted visitors to have the "complete experience, the way Howard Carter had it over a hundred years ago".

Most of the galleries at the site have been open to the public since last year, however, the Tutankhamun exhibit will be a new addition, as well as a 4,500-year-old funerary boat of Khufu - one of the oldest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity.

"Now it will be at the pinnacle of its glory. When the Tutankhamun collection opens, then you can imagine the whole world will come back, because this is an iconic Pharoah, the most famous king of all antiquity," said Ahmed Seddik, a guide and aspiring Egyptologist, to the BBC.

The GEM is packed with some 100,000 artefacts from pre-dynastic times to the Greek and Roman eras, and it is expected to attract up to 8 million visitors a year in a major boost to tourism.

Other fascinating atefacts include a 3,200-year-old obelisk of Ramesses II, a powerful pharaoh, and his 11m-high statue.

The Giza pyramids can be seen from the upper floor of the museum, which cost around £910million ($1.2bn), after climbing a giant staircase lined with the statues of ancient kings and queens.

Prominent Egyptologists said this museum strengthens demands for key antiquities to be returned to Egypt, such as the Rosetta Stone, which is displayed at the British Museum.

Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former minister of tourism and antiquities, told the BBC: "Now I want two things: number one, museums to stop buying stolen artefacts and number two, I need three objects to come back: the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum, the Zodiac from the Louvre and the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin."

Dr Hawass has set up online petitions for the cause, which have gained hundreds of thousands of signatures.