A carnival featuring Egyptian dance performances, marketplace events and a book launch was held at Shanghai Museum on People's Square on the evening of Aug 11, celebrating the grand opening of the final 168 hours of the exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt.

Since opening on July 19, 2024, the exhibition's 13-month run at Shanghai Museum is nearing its end. To enhance public access, the museum decided to keep the exhibition open around the clock from Aug 11 to 17, offering a total of 168 consecutive hours.

Tickets for late-night sessions, from midnight to 6 am, have already sold out.

During the carnival, Shanghai Museum launched a new book titled Pyramids in China: Behind the Scenes of the Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition, revealing the challenges faced in organizing the largest showcase of ancient Egyptian artifacts ever held outside Egypt.

Compiled by Shanghai Museum and published by Yilin Press, the book highlights the great efforts the museum made "drawing ancient Egyptian civilization close to contemporary audiences in Shanghai," according to Chu Xiaobo, director of Shanghai Museum.

The exhibition has set one of the highest attendance records for a single-ticket museum exhibition of cultural relics worldwide. As of Aug 11, it had received 2.6 million visitors, with expectations that the total will exceed 2.7 million by the time it closes.