Year-ender: Top 10 cultural events from 2025
5. Shanghai Museum's Egypt exhibition sets global records
The Shanghai Museum concluded its exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt on Aug 17, 2025, after a 13 month run that attracted more than 2.77 million visitors.
The largest exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts ever held outside Egypt, it featured 788 objects — nearly 95 percent of which debuted in Asia. The exhibition set world records for attendance, revenue, and continuous opening hours, while also driving significant cultural and tourism-related consumption.
With over more than 340 open days, the exhibition received an average of over 8,000 visitors per day. On August 16, during a 24-hour opening, it welcomed 23,149 visitors — an unprecedented figure. To ease ticket shortages, the museum added 220 night and special sessions and, in the final week, launched a "7×24-hour non-stop" viewing experience — setting a world record for 168 consecutive hours of continuous opening at a museum.
The Shanghai Museum also introduced an ancient Egypt-themed cruise, "From the Nile to the Huangpu River" on July 20, as part of a series of events paired with the grand exhibition.
