(dramatic music) ♪ (narrator) This is the journey of a lifetime... ♪ ...to Egypt, as it's never been seen before.

♪ A living nation of 100 million souls... ♪ ...where the afterlife of pharaohs still casts a welcome shadow over a modern nation's dreams.

♪ A country where old and new exist together, and where the future is no longer on the drawing board, but is coming into being before the people's eyes.

♪ It's a proud, confident nation, whose people are committed to family, to faith... ♪ ...and to the land.

Now, for the first time in its long history, Egypt is opening its skies... ♪ ...welcoming the world into a realm once reserved for gods... ♪ ...and offering a bird's-eye view on 7,000 years of human history.

A diverse and vibrant contemporary culture, and a future being built on a grand scale at breakneck pace, right before our very eyes.

It's a whole new perspective on Egypt, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

(atmospheric music) ♪ (flame hissing) ♪ I hate ignorance, smallness of imagination, the eye that sees no farther than its lashes.

♪ All things are possible.

What you are is only limited by whom you believe you are.

♪ More than 3,000 years ago in the Book of the Dead, Egypt's poets celebrated an ancient vision.

♪ It fused wisdom, infinite possibility, and a steadfast determination to reshape the world in ways that still astound.

♪ From raw and unforgiving stone, the ancient Egyptians shaped monuments to majesty, divinity, and power.

♪ (falcon wailing) ♪ From the first pyramid ever built to the mightiest mausoleum on the planet... ♪ ...to a beguiling beast rising from the sands.

♪ The landscape of Egypt has been shaped by a vast wealth of natural resources... ♪ ...towering feats of monumental construction... ♪ ...and steadfast devotion to spiritual beliefs.

But even after people from around the world left their own marks on Egypt, after the ebb and flow of thousands of years saw empires rise and fall... (solemn music) ♪ ...the Fourth Dynasty necropolis atop the Giza Plateau has remained.

♪ The centerpiece of Egyptian mystery and fascination.

It is the ultimate symbol of power on a scale nearly impossible to imagine.

♪ It is the Great Pyramid of Giza, the eternal resting place of the Egyptian soul.

♪ Archaeologists now believe that the Great Pyramid was built as a tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu, who ruled Egypt in the 26th century BCE.

♪ Rising nearly 500 feet, it was the tallest building in the world for nearly 4,000 years.

(wondrous music) Construction on the Great Pyramid is thought to have lasted for roughly two decades, with estimates for the labor force required to complete the task ranging from 20,000 to 100,000.

♪ It contains more than 2 million individual blocks of granite and limestone.

Some were quarried as far away as Aswan, more than 800 kilometers to the south.

Within this massive stone, weighing an estimated 6 million tons, are three burial chambers.

(pensive music) The largest space, somewhere near the middle, is known as "The King's Chamber."

Beneath it, a second chamber is believed to have been for a queen.

♪ Far below these, burrowed into the earth beneath the pyramid itself, is a tunnel to an unfinished subterranean chamber.

Its purpose remains a mystery.

♪ Surrounding the Great Pyramid are smaller monuments.

To the southwest, the Pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, Khufu's son and grandson... ♪ ...alongside at least three smaller pyramids for other queens.

Below them is the biggest mystery of them all.

♪ The body of a lion, the head of a man, oriented directly from east to west.

The Sphinx is a monolith, carved entirely from a single piece of stone.

The face is believed to represent the Pharaoh Khafre, for whom it was most likely created.

♪ At more than 70 meters long and nearly 20 meters tall, the Sphinx is a grand puzzle indeed.

♪ Unproven theories abound: That it contains undiscovered burial chambers of its own.

That it was aligned with a one-time position of the stars of Orion's Belt.

Or that it actually represents the jackal god Anubis.

♪ In the absence of definitive proof or scientific consensus, the Sphinx stares down from above with its secrets intact.

An inspiration for travelers and dreamers from around the world at the heart of a city where inspiration and devotion still run deep.

(contemplative music) ♪ (train whistle blares) ♪ This is Coptic Cairo.

♪ Churches here have welcomed the Christian faithful for more than 1,500 years.

The wooden roof of the Hanging Church is said to have been modeled on the shape of Noah's Ark.

Its intricate gate remains one of the most recognizable structures in the Coptic Quarter.

(chanting) ♪ And this Sunday, like every Sunday... ♪ ...Coptic Christians celebrate their faith... ♪ ...in a language that derives from pharaonic times.

♪ Outwardly similar to the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Copts have their own pope and their own monastic orders.

♪ (wondrous music) ♪ Beside the Hanging Church and beneath it lie the remains of the Babylon Fortress.

Yet one more window onto the many dimensions of Cairo's history.

♪ It was once a Roman guard post beside a long-since-demolished canal that ran inland from the Red Sea to the Nile.

♪ Christians, Romans, and Greeks all have left their mark on Egypt.

♪ But here, in the city of 1,000 minarets... ♪ ...one faith above all others has shaped the identity of its people.

One mosque more than any other has been the foundation stone of Islam in Egypt.

♪ The Amr Ibn Al Aas mosque is the first Muslim house of prayer ever established, not just in Egypt, but in all of Africa.

♪ Founded in the very earliest years of Islam, in 642 CE, it still enjoys a unique place in the evolution of the faith.

Egyptians are known for their embrace of a vision of Islam that is moderate, compassionate, and outward looking, supports an inclusive worldview in which coexistence is seen as a value, not a failing.

♪ (atmospheric vocal music) ♪ And this Friday, like every Friday, the faithful gather, congregations form at the Al-Hussein Mosque.

♪ Worshippers overflow and spill into the city streets.

♪ Together, they listen to Jummah.

♪ Together, they pray.

♪ Then, slowly, individually, they melt away into the dense humanity of the city they call home.

(cars honking) (solemn music) ♪ Friday prayers are a touchstone of Egyptian life.

♪ Forty-five kilometers due east from Cairo's Old Quarter, the same rituals are observed with equal devotion.

(traffic humming) And yet, the context of this place speaks to something entirely new.

Its streets aren't choked with cars and people.

(equipment roaring) Instead, its vistas reveal an armada of cranes amidst a sea of commercial construction.

♪ A new city is arising on the outskirts of Cairo.

♪ At its center, a gleaming vision: the Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque.

(dramatic music) Its four Fatimid-style minarets stand nearly 100 meters tall... ♪ ...gracefully commanding a vast dome under which 17,000 worshippers can gather to heed the call to prayer.

♪ The largest mosque in all of Africa.

It is a beacon for the ummah, a symbol of a new and confident era for Islam.

♪ A new cathedral was inaugurated, too.

♪ The Nativity of Christ is now the largest Christian church in the Middle East.

With space for 8,000 worshippers, it will offer long-lasting room to grow for the 1 in 10 Egyptians who adhere to the Coptic Christian faith.

♪ For thousands of years, the city of Cairo, along with the whole of the country now called Egypt, has changed, and changed again, reimagining itself once more in spectacular fashion, on the grandest of scales, yet true to its roots.

All of Egypt, one nation, is embracing tomorrow together, looking to the future, and building big.

♪ (pensive music) ♪ This is the view of the Giza Plateau most outsiders never see.

♪ The splendid isolation in which the pyramids are so often portrayed does not reflect reality.

♪ To understand how deeply past and present are enmeshed, there's no better thing to do than share in one of the defining challenges of Cairo life... ♪ ...getting from A to B.

(cars honking) (traffic humming) This city's traffic jams are the stuff of legend.

On the ground, it's all confusion, but seen from the air, frustration quickly gives way to amazement.

(wondrous music) ♪ (honking) (brakes squeaking) ♪ Only in Egypt does one drive through such remarkable history.

Only in Egypt do you really become a part of it.

One moment, you're driving past a modern high rise.

♪ The next, you're staring in awe at the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan.

♪ Built amidst the devastation of the Black Plague that swept across Europe and North Africa, it remains a vast monument to the Mamluks, the warrior gentlemen of the chivalric Middle Ages.

♪ In the next, you gaze out at the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, the man who woke Egypt up from its long Ottoman slumber and forged its destiny anew.

♪ And finally, you're stuck dead in traffic, looking at an ancient gate in the old city walls... ♪ ...with millions of cars snarling past the city's ancient landmarks every day.

(solemn music) An era of public works designed to mitigate Cairo's notorious traffic jams is on the cusp of remaking the city once again.

♪ The Banha Road will snake around Cairo, cars and trucks who would otherwise have to navigate the old city center.

♪ Another major offensive in the long battle against traffic congestion is the Rawd al Faraj Access Road.

♪ This new highway forges a link between the northeast and western sections of the city, a way to bypass the city entirely.

♪ But there's another player in this drama, and is, without a doubt, Cairo's oldest resident.

♪ The River Nile.

♪ (fantastical music) ♪ For thousands of years, the River Nile was the principal means by which all people and commerce moved.

♪ When the pyramids were built, camels had yet to be domesticated, so if you needed to travel, you either took the Nile, a donkey, or you used your own two feet.

(gulls cawing) ♪ To this day, it remains a vital artery of the nation's transportation... ♪ ...dotted with traditional feluccas... ♪ ...modern cargo vessels... ♪ ...and luxury tour boats.

♪ Along its shores, boats still anchor after the toils of the day.

♪ (indistinct remarks) Its fish still fill the market stalls.

♪ And it anchors the icons of the city skyline, like the Cairo Tower.

♪ It rises nearly 200 meters from Gezira Island, and with a lotus flower motif designed to conjure memories of pharaonic Egypt, it has been the tallest building in North Africa for over half a century.

♪ But the Nile humbles all such claims to fame.

♪ This is the longest, most bountiful river in the world.

(contemplative music) ♪ 95 percent of the water drunk by the Egyptian people derives from this single source.

♪ Harnessing this vital resource was the central preoccupation of Egypt's rulers for thousands of years.

♪ A process that often included redirecting its precious waters through the urban center itself.

♪ Today, most of the ancient canals that coursed through the city have long since dried up, but many clues to their original location remain.

♪ This is the Sabil-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda in the heart of Islamic Cairo.

♪ A treasure of Ottoman architecture, it once served as both a school and a public fountain.

♪ Open on three sides, it drew on the waters of the Nile to help quench an always-thirsty city.

♪ Access to the Nile's water was the lifeblood of urban survival in the 18th century, and it still is today.

♪ (atmospheric music) ♪ Cairo began as ancient Memphis.

♪ Seat of the pharaohs... ♪ ...and capital of the richest and most powerful country the world had ever known.

♪ Many of Egypt's heroes remain on the squares that bear their names.

♪ The lawyer and Egyptian nationalist Mustafa Kamil, who led the resistance to British occupation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, still stares out from his perch, resting a hand symbolically on an icon of Egyptian antiquity.

♪ As does the revered industrialist and economist Talaat Harb, who founded the first Egyptian bank owned by Egyptian shareholders.

♪ A critical turning point in the creation of both an independent Egyptian economy and a national identity free from the yoke of the colonial powers.

♪ Talaat Harb's monument is appropriately just around the corner from the 100-year-old Cairo Bourse, or stock exchange.

♪ With a name that invokes a legacy of France's long involvement in Egypt, that it was a stated goal of Muhammad Ali's grandson, Isma'il Pasha, to remake Cairo in the image of Paris.

♪ It was an ambition that came closest to fruition when, decades later, the elegant Cosmopolitan Hotel welcomed its first guests in 1928.

♪ (serene music) ♪ The spectacular Abdeen Palace, once home to the dynasty of Muhammad Ali, was a both a centerpiece for power since its construction in 1863, and a centerpiece of revolution when Egyptian people rose up against British occupation in 1952.

♪ In the years to come, Egypt would rule itself once again, and this famous public square just down the street from the palace would be renamed Tahrir, "Liberation."

♪ An icon of the Egyptian public spirit, Tahrir Square served as home base to the popular uprising of 2011.

The Arab Spring and the subsequent Egyptian Revolution, the events that led to the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30 years in power.

Just two years later, it was the epicenter again of protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the removal of Mohamed Morsi.

♪ (lively music) The world-famous Egyptian Museum, located just off Tahrir Square.

This building has stood as a guiding light for tourism here for more than 115 years.

Millions of visitors have passed through its doors to see its more than 100,000 artifacts, but not anymore.

Today, they're all moving to a brand-new home.

♪ The Grand Egyptian Museum.

♪ The very first guest is Ramesses II, the most powerful and longest lived ruler in all of ancient Egypt.

♪ His likeness towers more than 30 feet tall and weighs in at 83 tons.

Larger than life 3,000 years ago, that's exactly how he remains to this day.

♪ (machinery whirring) ♪ The new museum, built to house this grand tradition, is nothing short of spectacular.

♪ Conceived as a starting point for travelers, it's the ultimate orientation course for anyone who is intrigued by the history and mystery of Ancient Egypt.

♪ Its first exhibition will feature more than 5,400 objects from the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

♪ When the whole museum opens its doors, nearly all 100,000-plus artifacts from the old repository will have been inspected, cleaned, and transferred here, ready to dazzle the world.

♪ Its location, in the very midst of the ancient world's most hallowed ground, is as inspiring as the collections it houses.

♪ (soft music) ♪ For many of Egypt's tourists, bearing witness to this extraordinary vista on the Giza Plateau will become the defining moment in their adventure.

♪ To stand in the presence of the world's most iconic monuments is to voyage to the dawn of human history.

♪ The construction of the Great Pyramids and the reign of Ramesses II were a long 1,500 years apart, and yet remarkably, that great span of history only takes us to the midpoint of Ancient Egypt's timeline.

♪ For three millennia, dynastic Egypt grew and changed, and it's the evidence for that long history that's being assembled here.

♪ Soon, travelers will journey here by way of a new international airport, tailored to tourist needs, and a brand-new road network designed to connect all the antiquity sites on the sprawling Giza Plateau with a fleet of electric buses.

♪ From there, they will be ushered into the new visitors center and the main entrance to the new museum.

♪ From the Great Pyramid to the new Grand Egyptian Museum.

♪ The Giza Plateau is getting a facelift, one fit for the greatest tourist destination on Earth.

♪ (atmospheric music) ♪ The Nile Delta.

Beginning just north of Cairo, the waters of the longest river in the world complete their epic journey from the mountains of Central Africa here.

♪ Fanning out across a vast swath of fertile pastureland, it stands in stark contrast to the desert all around.

(gulls cawing) ♪ Its waters flow north to the Mediterranean Sea... ♪ ...and splash out over a coastline 240 kilometers across.

♪ 40 million Egyptians live inside the Delta.

♪ 1 in 10 of those live here, Alexandria.

♪ It's a modern metropolis, and despite millennia of armed conflicts, invasions, and war, its resilience is a testament to strength and to the enduring ambition of its people.

♪ Its elegance, exemplified by striking architectural statements, is a testament to centuries of wealth and political power.

♪ For centuries, Alexandria has stood at the epicenter of global trade... ♪ ...and as an ancient proving ground for science and philosophy.

♪ (waves crashing) Indeed, while Cairo may be the most famous city in Egypt, Alexandrians know theirs has a stronger claim to influence over the history of the modern world.

(pensive music) ♪ In 331 BCE, the land here was already a seaside Egyptian town called Rhakotis, complete with stone temples and a long-established port.

♪ But it was far from the grandeur of Memphis, where the most powerful army the world had ever seen came marching into town.

♪ Its leader is Alexander the Great, and he is unstoppable.

He swept across Egypt virtually unopposed by its then-despised and weakening Persian rulers, and ordered construction of his new capital here.

♪ Alexander never lived in the grand city that still bears his name, but the extension of his empire into Egypt ushered in a long period of cultural rebirth and dramatic social change.

(soft music) ♪ Hellenistic cultural influences flooded the Nile Valley.

♪ The period that followed would come to be known as the Ptolemaic Era.

♪ It would fuse the grandeur of Ancient Egypt with the power and culture of Classical Greece.

♪ Alexandria grew quickly into the most powerful port city in the world.

♪ In ancient times, the spectacular Pharos lighthouse stood here.

Stood 120 meters tall at the edge of this broad harbor.

♪ It was one of the longest-standing Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

♪ Likely toppled by earthquakes.

♪ Stones from the lighthouse are believed to have been used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay.

♪ The centerpiece of the harbor today.

♪ Just down the 20-kilometer-long corniche... ♪ ...this striking modern reconstruction pays homage to Alexandria's ancient library.

♪ For a time, it was the most prolific center of mathematics, philosophy, and literature anywhere in the world.

(wondrous music) ♪ But prosperity for the Greeks did not necessarily mean prosperity for everyone, as these fragments of apocalyptic Egyptian writings from the period suggest.

"That will be the end of our evils, when Egypt shall see the foreigners fall like leaves from a branch.

♪ The city by the sea will be a drying place for the fisherman's catch, because the guardian spirit has gone to Memphis.

So, the passersby will say, 'This was the all-nurturing city in which all races of mankind live.'"

♪ Composed in Egyptian demotic script sometime around 200 BCE, only a few papyrus fragments from this, The Oracle of the Potter, still exist.

This translation describes deep frustration over a city plagued with war and foreign interference.

A state of affairs here that would persist through the modern era.

♪ (gulls cawing) Just a few kilometers down the coast, this is the El Alamein War Memorial.

♪ A monument to 15,000 Egyptians who died here during World War II... ♪ ...caught between two powerful forces, unwitting victims of other nations' wars.

♪ It was just one of many brutal conflicts here across 2,000 years that destroyed lives, ravaged crops, and plundered cities across this region.

Thankfully today, peace has been very good to the people of Alexandria.

(dramatic music) ♪ Four months, less than half a year.

That's all the time Alexander the Great actually spent reshaping Egypt.

♪ But he kept himself very busy.

He chose his new capital, traveled to Memphis to claim his throne, and he ventured deep into Egypt's western desert... ♪ ...more than 500 kilometers from any established city of the day... ♪ ...to the oasis of Siwa.

♪ Drawn to the ancient mystery of this place, the seat of the sun god Amun-Ra, here at the Temple of the Oracle of Amun.

With the eyes of all Egypt upon him, Alexander the Great walked up these stairs a man, and walked back down them as both a pharaoh and a god.

(solemn music) His legacy secured, Alexander the Great promptly left Egypt.

♪ Daily life for the hardy men and women of Siwa carried on unchanged.

♪ Called Siwi, these desert dwellers have seen a long parade of rulers present themselves at their isolated temples.

♪ This 13th century fortress, known as Shali, was built of a uniquely local combination: mud and salt.

♪ Once home to more than 1,300 people, permanent residents have long since moved on, their former homes fading in the wind and very occasional rain.

♪ There, plentiful blessings of water, both fresh and saline, provide for an array of crops unique to this very unique oasis.

♪ Vast pools of mineral-rich salt still add flavor to local meals, but are also commercially harvested, packaged, and sold.

♪ Siwa's remote circumstances made it what it is, just as Egypt's circumstances determined its grand fate, too.

♪ (wondrous music) ♪ Strategically positioned atop Africa, alongside the Middle East, and just a short sail from Europe, the Suez Canal reshaped Egypt.

♪ Before 1860, the land here was nothing but desert.

Soon after, a local workforce of hundreds of thousands, many enslaved, many using only their bare hands, dug 20 million cubic meters of sand out of this land, creating a marine passage more than 150 kilometers long.

♪ Gone forever but never forgotten, these Egyptian workers dug the Suez Canal.

(gulls cawing) ♪ In doing so, they upset the international balance of politics, power, and trade.

The world would never be the same.

♪ Those same workers built this city, Port Said... ♪ ...bustling now at the canal's main north gate.

♪ Today, it remains the first point of entry for boats from Europe, the near east, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea.

♪ From here, their destinations include the Red Sea, East Africa, the Arab Gulf, and all of Asia beyond.

♪ Instantly diverse and always cosmopolitan, when the Suez Canal opened in 1869, Port Said hit its stride.

♪ Today, its 600,000-plus inhabitants continue to live off the bounty of the sea and the continued expansion not just of international trade but of the Suez Canal itself.

♪ (solemn music) ♪ Today, the canal has nearly doubled in size.

An all-new second canal passage has been commissioned.

♪ And for the first time ever, canal traffic can now move simultaneously in two directions for more than 70 kilometers of the old canal's length.

♪ For ships, time and transit has been reduced from 18 hours down to 11.

♪ Here, alongside a channel where the two Suez Canals now connect, the history of this landmark achievement is celebrated.

These 104 individual flagpoles were designed for the flags of each transiting member nation.

♪ Besides them stands a memorial to the Egyptian woman, modeled in the likeness of the sky goddess Nut.

♪ In ancient times, she was believed to be the protector of the sun, the moon, and the souls of the dead as they ascended to the heavens.

She now looks out to protect all who pass with the ever-mysterious sphinx at her side.

♪ (dramatic music) Here, too, is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of unknown Egyptian workers who toiled here in obscurity, and to the many who died in the process.

None of this could've happened without them.

♪ (intense music) ♪ The story of Egypt is the story of power.

♪ It's a story that began in the heart of this vast land, and which today reaches every corner of the nation.

It's a story suspended between Egypt's past and its future.

Still, right in the middle of it all, the greatest story in human history is still being told today.

♪