Pyramid of Khafre and the Sphinx in Giza

The Pyramid of Khafre - The second-largest pyramid in Giza, the tomb of the pharaoh Khafre (son of Cheops). It is the only one in the pyramid complex that still has casing slabs at its apex. The original height of the pyramid was about 143 m; today it is about 135 m.

It was also built on a slightly raised base, which gives the impression that it is taller than the pyramids of Cheops and Menkaure. Two entrances lead inside, and the corridors lead to the burial chamber at the end, where the sarcophagus stands.
Beside the pyramid there is also a well-preserved temple complex, which includes the upper temple, the causeway (dromos) and the lower temple together with the Sphinx.

The Sphinx
The famous giant statue of the Great Sphinx rises from the Giza plateau nearby, located directly north of the valley temple of Khafre and the causeway. This monument - almost the emblem of Egypt - has stirred the imagination of travellers, scholars, poets and writers for centuries, and still keeps secrets that have puzzled people for millennia. It was left from the quarrying of stone for the Great Pyramid, in a rectangular pit bounded by the causeway of Khafre to the south, the modern road to the north and the Old Kingdom "Sphinx Temple" to the east. A New Kingdom religious structure, probably from Amenhotep II, lies to the north-east.
The colossal monument takes the form of a lion with a human head, and may have been carved with the features of Khafre, although this is disputed. Sphinxes are typical elements of Egyptian sculpture, but the unique architecture of the Great Sphinx has long fired the imagination of "fantasy archaeologists", who claim that the sculpture is the work of a civilisation far older than the ancient pyramid builders. Although the enigmatic history of the Sphinx is undeniable, recent intensive excavations and restorations have shown no secret underground chambers or evidence of lost civilisations - to the disappointment of many.
The body of the Sphinx, almost 60 m long and 20 m high, was carved from alternating soft and hard layers of sediment, limestone laid down during the formation of the Giza plateau in the Eocene period. The harder layers were quarried, the blocks extracted for old building projects, and it is now possible to identify the stone used in each of the surrounding structures, providing evidence of the sequence of quarrying.
The head of the Egyptian sphinx represents a ruler dressed in a head-cloth and once had a uraeus-serpent on its forehead and a royal beard (fragments now exist in museums). The human head is small in relation to the lion body, suggesting that the body may have been elongated to take in a natural fissure in the rock.
The colossal figure is oriented east-west, and the Sphinx Temple with its huge courtyard has been called a solar temple. The Sphinx can be identified with the god Re, who rises and sets on the horizon, and also with Horus, son of Re. So the Sphinx is the "living image" (a translation of the Egyptian word for sphinx, shesep-ankh) of Khafre or another ruler, presenting an offering to the sun god.