GIZA, Egypt — Egypt reopened the third and smallest pyramid of Giza today after 18 months of renovation and opened 15 tombs to the public for the first time as part of intensive efforts to expand the famous site to tourism.

Eventually, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni hopes to build a huge museum complex at Giza to house the extensive collection of ancient artifacts now crammed into the elegant but aging national Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo.

The third pyramid of Giza was the last of the great pyramids to be built on the desert plateau outside of Cairo and the last of the three to be renovated. The 204-foot-high structure was built as the tomb of the ancient king Menkaure, called Mycerinus by the Greeks, around 2620 BC.