The Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the 7 Wonders of the World
The Great Pyramid Egypt, located on the outskirts of Cairo, this pyramid is the largest of the three and is estimated to have been completed in 2570 BC to house the body of Khufu, the pharaoh of the fourth dynasty of the ancient old kingdom of Egypt and also known as Cheops who had ordered the construction of a tomb to preserve his body.
The architect who carried out the work was Hemiunu, a relative of the pharaoh, who revolutionized the laws of physics by building what was then, and well into the 19th century, the tallest building in the world and one of the seven ancient wonders around the world.
The Great Pyramid of Giza facts
- It’s 145 m high.
- Base area of 52 square meters. Enough area to contain 20 Olympic swimming pools.
- Until the modern skyscrapers were built, the Great Pyramid at Giza was the * tallest building in the world.
- The Great Pyramid of Giza was built over 20 years and was erected with 2,300,000 stone blocks of approximately two tons per block although some blocks reached 60 tons.
- In order to carry out the project, about 100,000 slaves were needed,
who worked hard for a long time, in many cases in miserable conditions and with little food. Or at least not all the workers who participated in its construction were slaves, but wage-earning free men. This would be demonstrated by the discovery, made public in 2010, of a series of workers’ tombs next to the pyramids themselves, something that, according to the Egyptian archaeologists who found them, would never have been possible if they had been slaves.
What makes the Great Pyramid an architectural triumph and one of the Seven Wonders of the World is the fact that each of the stones used in its construction weighs more than two tons with some stones at the base weighing as much as 15 tonnes. And the Pyramid at Giza is made up of over two million of those stones.
The funerary complex of Cheops is composed of several elements including the pyramid that is the center.
The pyramids of Giza and The solar boat (Khufu Ship)
The great pyramid inside
As for the great pyramid inside, it is composed of three main chambers: the King’s Chamber, the Queen’s Chamber, and the underground Chamber, the latter located underground. It also has a space called the Great Gallery and various ventilation channels.
King’s chamber of the great pyramid
It has granite slabs and is rectangular in shape, with smooth walls and ceilings. It is a stripped-down space with a single point of focus: the Pharaoh’s empty granite sarcophagus, without any inscription. Above the ceiling are the discharge chambers that serve to deflect the pressure exerted by the upper blocks of the pyramid.
Queen’s chamber of the great pyramid
It is located in the center of the pyramid and is also rectangular. Its walls are smooth and it has no decoration or niche.
The great pyramids of Giza, are the most recognizable icon of Egypt in the last 7000 years. The Giza Necropolis, the largest and oldest of the three great pyramids is the Pyramid of Cheops. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that survives substantially intact.
The development of Pyramids
It took the ancient Egyptians around 400 years to progress from mudbrick mastaba to smooth-sided pyramid. The last stage, from stepped to “true” or smooth-sided pyramid took only 65 years. In this time each pyramid was a brave venture into the unknown. Rarely in the history of mankind has technology developed at such a rate.
Mastaba
Around 3000 BC the sandy mounds of the graves of the upper echelons of society were formalized into low, box-like mastabas.
Stepped pyramid (c.2665 BC)
A more impressive memorial was made by putting six stone mastabas on top of each other.
Prototype pyramid (c.2605 BC)
The first smooth-sided pyramid was achieved by filling in the steps of a stepped pyramid. This was followed by purpose-built, smooth-sided pyramids.
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