The Great Pyramid of Cheops in Giza

The Pyramid of Cheops - is known as an enormous structure. It has impressed and delighted since ancient times and is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the World still in existence. The monument "Akhet Khufu" (Horizon of Cheops) is known today as the Great Pyramid.
The base of the pyramid measures 230.37 m, and its height was originally about 150 m, while today it is about 139 m. The structure consists of an enormous number of limestone blocks (estimated at around 2.4 million stone blocks, weighing about 2.5 tonnes each), quarried from the area to the south-east of the pyramid. There are, and probably always will be, many arguments and discussions about how the pyramid was built, and even whether it was built by humans. One thing is certain - the precision of its design and the excellence of its construction have always fascinated scholars and visitors.
Inside, the pyramid consists of rooms and corridors such as:
- the Descending Corridor;
- the Unfinished Chamber;
- the Ascending Corridor;
- the Queen Chamber;
- the King Chamber with the sarcophagus.
The passage divides into two parts: the lower corridor leading down into the bedrock of the plateau and the underground chamber was abandoned, perhaps because of a lack of air.
The Great Pyramid still keeps many of its secrets. On a first visit it is better simply to experience the magnificence of this mighty structure rather than to look for explanations of its mysteries. It is almost a relief to return to the sunny, fresh air.

The Pyramid Complex
The Khufu pyramid complex has all the elements of a traditional pyramid, although many of them have long disappeared. Around the pyramid walls there are five large boat pits. In 1954, on the south-eastern side, a wooden boat, the "Solar Boat", thought to have been part of the royal funeral procession, was completely dismantled. This vessel was rebuilt and is now on display in a specially built museum near where it was found. In 1987 the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation examined a second boat pit to the south-east using a special probe, and found that it also contained a boat similar to the first.
The mortuary temple on the eastern side of the pyramid today consists only of the remains of a large courtyard, as well as rectangular basalt-covered paving slabs that must have been over 50 m wide. It was destroyed in antiquity and its plan is now difficult to reconstruct. The few fragments of reliefs found there include the sed-festival and the festival of the white hippopotamus.
The causeway of Khufu has now practically disappeared and has been only partly studied. Its original length is estimated at about 810 m. The ruins of the valley temple, mostly destroyed in antiquity, are now absorbed by the modern village of Nazlet es-Simman.