The unveiling is part of concentrated government efforts to attract much-needed tourists, driven away by recent militant attacks, and restore confidence in the safety of its attractions.
Security concerns were palpable as media crews toured the new museum at the desert Valley of the Whales, located about 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of the capital, Cairo. '
Dozens of heavily-armed military officers in black balaclavas stood guard alongside plainclothes policemen, poorly disguised in local Bedouin dress that short enough to reveal their uniforms underneath.
A long running Islamic insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula intensified after the 2013 ouster by the military of Mubarak's successor, Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, worsening tourism woes.
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The construction of the much-hyped Fossils and Climate Change Museum was covered a 2 billion euros (2. 17 billion dollars) grant from Italy, according to Italian Ambassador Maurizio Massari.
Its centerpiece is an intact, 37-million-year-old and 20-meter-long skeleton of a legged form of whale that testifies to how modern-day whales evolved from land mammals.
"When you build something somewhere so beautiful and unique, it has to blend in with its surrounding ... Or it would be a crime against nature," the museum's architect Gabriel Mikhail said, pointing to the surrounding sand dunes.
"We are confident visitors will come," he added, smiling.
Egypt's tourism industry was further shattered by the suspected terror bombing that brought down the Russian airliner over Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for that attack.
A supposedly unique rock collection was seemingly hastily numbered by a permanent blue marker.