The largest stone of the pyramid. Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) - interesting facts

Cheops ( Khufu) is truly a wonder of the world. From the foot to the top, it reaches 137.3 meters, and before it lost the top, its height was 146.7 meters. A century and a half ago, it was the tallest building in the world, only in 1880 it was exceeded by two built-on towers of the Cologne Cathedral (by 20 meters), and in 1889 by the Eiffel Tower. The sides of its base are 230.4 meters, the area is 5.4 hectares. Its initial volume was 2,520,000 cubic meters; now it is about 170,000 cubic meters smaller, because for centuries the pyramid was used as a quarry. About 2,250,000 stone blocks were used for its construction, each with a volume of more than a cubic meter; this material would be enough to build a city with a hundred thousand inhabitants. Its weight is 6.5-7 million tons. If it were hollow, it would include a launcher for space rockets. According to experts, even atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

It was built, according to the most common dating, in 2560-2540. BC BC, although some scientists give dates about 150 years earlier. Inside the pyramid are three chambers corresponding to the three stages of its construction. The first chamber is carved into the rock at a depth of about 30 meters below the base of the pyramid and not exactly in the middle of it; its area - 8 x 14 meters, height - 3.5 meters. It remained unfinished, as well as the second, which is located in the core of the pyramid, exactly under the top, at a height of about 20 meters above the base; its area is 5.7 x 5.2 meters, the vaulted ceiling reaches a height of 6.7 meters; once it was called the "tomb of the queen." The third chamber is the tomb of the king; unlike the other two, it is finished; in it was found the sarcophagus of Cheops. It was built at a height of 42.3 meters above the base and slightly south of the axis of the pyramid; its dimensions are 10.4 x 5.2 meters; height - 5.8 meters. It is lined with immaculately polished and carefully fitted granite slabs; above the ceiling there are five unloading chambers, overall height which are 17 meters. They take on the weight of about a million tons of stone mass so that it does not press directly on the burial chamber.

The pharaoh's sarcophagus is wider than the entrance to the chamber. It was carved from a single piece of brownish-gray granite, without a date or an inscription, and rather badly damaged. It stands in the western corner of the tomb, right on the floor. It was placed here during construction, and, apparently, no one has moved since then. This sarcophagus looks like it was cast from metal. But the body of Cheops himself is not in it.

All three cells have "antechambers" and are all connected by corridors or shafts. Some mines end in a dead end. Two shafts lead from the royal tomb to the surface of the pyramid, going out approximately in the middle of the northern and southern walls. One of their purposes is to provide ventilation; perhaps there were others.

Discovery: Exploding history. Secrets Great Pyramid

The original entrance to the pyramid is located on the north side, 25 meters above the base. Now another entrance leads to the pyramid, punched in 820 by the caliph Mamun, who hoped to discover the pharaoh's untold treasures, but found nothing. This entrance is located about 15 meters lower than the previous one, almost in the very center of the north side.

The Great Pyramid was surrounded by no less labor-intensive and expensive buildings. Herodotus, who saw the road leading from the upper (mortuary) temple to the lower, which was lined with polished slabs and had a width of 18 meters, called its construction a work "almost as huge as the construction of the pyramid itself." Now some 80 meters of it have survived - the road disappeared at the end of the 19th century during the construction of the village of Nazlat es-Simman, now, like Giza, which has become part of Cairo. Somewhere in its place stood a lower temple, 30 meters high, but it probably fell victim to people looking for building material in ancient times.

Of the buildings surrounding the Great Pyramid, only the ruins of the upper (mortuary) temple and three satellite pyramids have survived. Traces of the temple were discovered in 1939 by the Egyptian archaeologist Abu Seif. As usual, it was located to the east of the pyramid, and its pediment had a length of 100 Egyptian cubits (52.5 meters); it was built of Turkish limestone, had a courtyard with 38 square granite pillars, 12 of the same pillars stood in the vestibule in front of a small sanctuary. On both sides of it, about 10 meters away, during the excavations, two “docks” hollowed out in a limestone plateau were found, where “solar boats” were probably kept, the third such “dock” was found to the left of the road to the lower temple. Unfortunately, the "docks" were empty, but archaeologists were rewarded by the chance discovery of two more such "docks" in 1954. In one of them rested a perfectly preserved boat - the most ancient ship in the world. Its length is 36 meters, and it is made of cedar.

The satellite pyramids also stand to the east of the Great Pyramid, although they were usually built to the south. The pyramids are located from north to south "by height", the side of the square base of the first pyramid is 49.5 meters, the second - 49, the third - 46.9. Each of them had a stone fence, a mortuary chapel and a burial chamber, into which a sheer shaft led; in addition, next to the first was a "dock" for the "solar boat". Most scholars believe that these pyramids belonged to the wives of Khufu, of whom the first (main), according to ancient custom, was probably his sister. The names of the first two are unknown to us, the third was called Henutsen.

All three satellite pyramids are quite well preserved, only they are devoid of external cladding.

Apparently, to the east of the first it was supposed to build another one, large sizes but construction was stopped. According to one hypothesis, it was intended for Queen Hetepheres, the wife of the pharaoh Sneferu and Khufu's mother. In the end, Khufu decided to build for her a secret tomb in the rock a little to the north. This tomb was actually hidden ... until January 1925, when the photographer Reisner's tripod fell into the gap between the camouflage blocks. Then the members of the Harvard-Boston Expedition carried out treasures for three months: thousands of small gold plaques, pieces of furniture and household utensils; gold and silver bracelets, cosmetic boxes with "shadows" for eyeliner, manicure knives, jewelry boxes with the name of the queen. Canopies with its insides and an alabaster sarcophagus were found, which, however, turned out to be empty. This is the first intact tomb of a member of the royal family of the era of the Old Kingdom.

The Great Pyramid was surrounded by a ten-meter stone wall. The ruins of the wall show that it was 3 meters thick and separated from the pyramid by 10.5 meters. Near it, in the distance, there were mastabas (tombs) of dignitaries: almost a hundred of them survived on the north side, more than ten on the south, about forty on the east.

Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (in the Greek version of Cheops), or the Great Pyramid - the greatest of the Egyptian pyramids, the oldest of the seven wonders of the world of antiquity and the only one of them that has come down to our time. Over four thousand years the pyramid was the largest building in the world.

The pyramid of Cheops is located in the far suburbs of Cairo Giza. Nearby are two more pyramids of the pharaohs Khafre and Menkaure (Khafren and Mikerin), according to ancient historians, the sons and successors of Khufu. These are the three largest pyramids in Egypt.

Following the ancient authors, most modern historians consider the pyramids to be the burial structures of the ancient Egyptian monarchs. Some scholars believe that they were astronomical observatories. There is no direct evidence that pharaohs were buried in the pyramids, but other versions of their purpose are less convincing.

When was the pyramid of Cheops built?

Based on the ancient "royal lists", it is established that Cheops ruled around 2585-2566. BC. The construction of the "Sacred Height" lasted 20 years and ended after the death of Khufu, around 2560 BC.

Other versions of construction dates based on astronomical methods give dates from 2720 to 2577. BC. The radiocarbon method shows a spread of 170 years, from 2850 to 2680. BC.

There are also exotic opinions expressed by supporters of theories of visiting the Earth by aliens, the existence of ancient pra-civilizations, or adherents of occult currents. They determine the age of the pyramid of Cheops from 6-7 to tens of thousands of years.

How the pyramid was built

The Pyramid of Cheops is still the largest stone building on the planet. Its height is 137 m, the length of the side of the base is 230.38 m, the angle of inclination of the edge is 51 ° 50", the total volume is about 2.5 million cubic meters. At the time of completion of construction, the height was 9.5 m higher, and the side of the base was 2 m longer, however, over the past centuries, almost the entire lining of the pyramid has been dismantled.Natural factors have also done their job - temperature drops and winds from the desert, carrying clouds of sand.

Ancient Greek historians reported that the labor of millions of slaves was used in the construction. Modern researchers believe that with the proper organization of work and engineering, the Egyptians would have had several tens of thousands of workers for the construction. For the transportation of materials, temporary workers were involved, the number of which, according to Herodotus, reached 100 thousand. Modern scientists fully agree with this, as well as with the reality of a 20-year construction period.

Hemiun, the head of the royal works, supervised the construction of the pyramid. Hemiun's tomb is located next to his creation; a statue of the architect was found in it.

The main material for the construction was gray limestone, which was cut down in the nearest quarries or brought from the other side of the Nile. The pyramid was lined with light sandstone, because of which it literally shone under the sunlight. Granite was used for interior decoration, which was delivered a thousand kilometers from the area of ​​\u200b\u200bpresent-day Aswan. The building was crowned with a hewn gilded granite block - a pyramidion.

In total, the construction of the pyramid took about 2.3 million blocks of limestone and 115 thousand facing slabs. The total mass of the building, according to modern estimates, is almost 6 million tons.

The block sizes vary. The largest ones are laid in the base, their height is one and a half meters. The blocks are smaller the higher they are. The height of the block at the top was 55 cm. The length of the facing slabs ranged from 1.5 to 0.75 m.

The work of the pyramid builders was extremely difficult. A lot of time and effort required the extraction of stone, hewing blocks and fitting to the right size. In those days, neither iron nor bronze was known in Egypt. The tools were made of relatively soft copper, so they wore down quickly and were very expensive. Flint tools were widely used - saws, drills, hammers. Many of them were found during excavations.

Delivery of materials was carried out by river, and the stone was brought to the construction site on a wooden sled or rollers. It was hellish work, because the average weight of one block is 2.5 tons, and some of them weighed up to 50 tons.

A variety of devices were used to lift and install the monoliths, and inclined embankments were erected to pull up the most massive elements that make up the lower rows. Images of construction work have been found in a number of Egyptian temples and tombs.

Recently, an original theory has emerged regarding the construction methods of the Egyptians. Scientists who studied the microstructure of the blocks in order to establish their origin, found foreign inclusions. According to experts, these are the remains of animal hair and human hair, from which the scientists concluded that the limestone was crushed in the places of extraction and delivered to the construction site in crushed form. Blocks were made directly at the place of laying from the limestone mass, which thus were a semblance of modern concrete structures, and tool marks on the blocks are actually formwork prints.

Be that as it may, the construction was completed, and the grandiose dimensions of the pyramid fully justify the supporters of the theories of the Atlanteans and aliens who do not believe in the possibility of human genius.

What is inside the pyramid

The entrance to the pyramid was made at a height of almost 16 meters in the form of an arch of granite slabs. It was later sealed with a granite cork and covered with cladding. The current entrance, 10 meters lower, was broken in 831 by order of Caliph Al-Mamun, who hoped to find gold here, but did not find anything of value.

The main premises are the pharaoh's chamber, the queen's chamber, the Great Gallery and the underground chamber. The passage punched by Al-Mamun leads to a 105-meter inclined corridor, ending in a chamber carved into the rock below the base of the pyramid. Its dimensions are 14x8 m., height 3.5 m. Works here were not completed for unknown reasons.

At 18 meters from the entrance, a 40-meter-long ascending corridor separates from the descending corridor, ending in the Great Gallery. The Gallery itself is a high (8.5 m) tunnel 46.6 m long leading to the pharaoh's chamber. The corridor to the queen's chamber branches off from the Gallery at its very beginning. A rectangular ditch 60 cm deep and 1 m wide was pierced in the floor of the Gallery; its purpose is unknown.

The length of the pharaoh's chamber is 10.5 m, width 5.4 m, height 5.84 m. It is lined with black granite slabs. Here is an empty granite sarcophagus. The queen's chamber is more modest - 5.76 x 5.23 x 6.26 m.

Channels 20-25 cm wide lead from the burial chambers to the surface of the pyramid. The channels of the king's chamber go out at one end into the room, at the other - onto the surface of the pyramid. The channels of the queen's chamber begin 13 cm from the wall and do not reach 12 m to the surface, and both ends of the channels are closed with stone doors with handles. It is assumed that the channels were made to ventilate the premises during the work. Another version, connected with the beliefs of the Egyptians, claims that this is the way to afterworld which the souls of the departed had to pass through.

No less mysterious is another small room, the Grotto, to which an almost vertical passage leads from the beginning of the Great Gallery. The grotto is located at the junction of the base of the pyramid and the hill on which it stands. The walls of the Grotto are reinforced with rather roughly worked stone. It is assumed that this is part of some structure older than the pyramid.

It is necessary to mention one discovery related to the pyramid. In 1954, at the southern edge, two stone-lined pits were discovered, in which were the pharaoh's boats, made of Lebanese cedar. One of the boats has been restored and is now in a special pavilion next to the pyramid. Its length is 43.5 m, width is 5.6 m.

The study of the pyramid of Cheops continues. Research using the latest methods used in the exploration of the earth's interior, show with a high degree of probability the existence of unknown caverns inside the pyramid. So it is quite possible that scientists expect new interesting finds and discoveries.

In the meantime, the Great Pyramid keeps its secrets, proudly rising in the middle of the desert, like millennia ago. After all, according to an ancient Arabic proverb, everything in the world is afraid of time, but time is afraid of the pyramids.

- one of the most ancient "seven wonders of the world", which has survived to this day. She inherited her name from the creator - Pharaoh Cheops and is the largest in the group of Egyptian pyramids.

It is believed that it serves as a tomb for his dynasty. The Pyramid of Cheops is located on the Giza plateau.

Dimensions of the pyramid of Cheops

The height of the Pyramid of Cheops initially reached 146.6 meters, but time inexorably and gradually destroys this impressive structure. Today it has decreased to 137.2 meters.

The pyramid is composed, in general, of 2.3 million cubes of stone. The weight of one stone is on average 2.5 tons, but there are even those whose mass reaches 15 tons.

The most interesting thing is that these blocks fit so perfectly that even the blade of a thin knife cannot pass through them. They were glued together with white cement, as a protection against the penetration of water inside. It has survived to this day.

One side of the pyramid is 230 meters long. Base area of ​​53,000 square meters, which can be equated to ten football fields.

This huge building impresses with its grandeur and breathes with antiquity. According to scientists, the total weight of the pyramid is 6.25 million tons. Previously, its surface was perfectly smooth. Now, unfortunately, there is no trace of this smoothness.

Inside the pyramid of Cheops there is one entrance, located at a height of 15.5 meters above the ground. It contains the tombs in which the pharaohs were buried. These so-called burial chambers are made of durable granite and are located at a depth of 28 meters.

The pyramid consists of incoming and descending passages, which were not used in any other similar building. One of the features is a large descent leading to the tomb of the pharaoh.

The Pyramid of Cheops is located directly in the place that points to all four cardinal points. She is the one and only ancient structures, has this accuracy.

History of the Pyramid of Cheops

How the ancient Egyptians were able to build this Pyramid and when, no one can say for sure. But in Egypt, the official date when construction began is August 23, 2480 BC.

It was then that Pharaoh Snofu died and his son Khufu (Cheops) gave the order to build the pyramid. He wanted to build such a pyramid that it would not only become one of the greatest structures, but also glorify his name through the ages.

It is known that about 100,000 people simultaneously participated in its construction. For 10 years, they only built a road along which it was necessary to deliver stones, and the construction itself continued for another 20-25 years.

According to scientists, it is known that workers cut down huge blocks in quarries on the banks of the Nile. On boats they went to the other side and dragged a block along the road with felt to the construction site itself.

Then came the turn of hard and very dangerous work. The blocks were stacked to each other with extraordinary accuracy with the help of ropes and levers.

Secrets of the Pyramid of Cheops

For almost 3,500 years, no one has disturbed the peace of the Pyramid of Cheops. She was covered with legends about the punishment of anyone who enters the chambers of the pharaoh.

However, there was such a daredevil caliph Abdullah al-Mamun, he laid a tunnel inside the pyramid in order to profit. But what was his surprise when he found absolutely no treasures. Indeed, this is one of the many secrets of this majestic structure.

No one knows whether the pharaoh Cheops was really buried in it or his tomb was plundered by the ancient Egyptians. Scientists emphasize that the pharaoh's chamber does not have decorations, which at that time it was customary to decorate the tombs. There is no lid on the sarcophagus, and it is not completely hewn. It is clear that the work has not been completed.

After an unsuccessful attempt by Abdullah al-Mamun, having come into a frenzy, he ordered the pyramids to be dismantled. But of course this goal was not achieved. And the robbers lost all interest in her and her non-existent treasures.

In 1168, the Arabs burned part of Cairo, and when the Egyptians began to rebuild their houses, they removed the white slabs from the pyramid.

And from that pyramid that shone like a precious stone, only a stepped body remained. This is how it appears today, before enthusiastic tourists.

The Pyramid of Cheops has been constantly explored, since the time of Napoleon. And some researchers are more inclined to believe the theory about the construction of the pyramid by aliens or Atlanteans.

Because to this day it is not clear how the builders could achieve such excellent stone processing and precise laying, which have not been affected by external factors for centuries. And the pyramid measurements themselves are striking in their results.

The pyramid was surrounded by other interesting buildings, mostly temples. But today, almost nothing has survived.

Their purpose is not completely clear, but in 1954, archaeologists found the most ancient ship at this place. It was the “Solnechnaya” boat, which was made without a single nail, with traces of silt preserved, and most likely floated in the time of Cheops.

The Pyramid of Cheops is located on the Giza plateau. Giza is a settlement northwest of Cairo. You can get there by taxi, naming the Mena House Hotel as the final stop. Or take a bus to go from the stops of Tahrir Square, in Cairo, or sit at the Ramesses station.

Pyramid of Cheops on the map

Attraction opening hours and price

You can see the majestic Pyramid of Cheops every day from 8.00 to 17.00. V winter time visitation is limited to 16.30. It is advisable to visit the pyramid in the early morning or late afternoon. In the rest of the hours it is quite hot, and you can’t break through the crowds of tourists. Although at this hour they are not so few.

Passing to the ticket office, which is not far from the hotel, you should not pay attention to barkers offering a ride on camels or calling themselves controllers. Most likely they are scammers.

The cost of entering the territory will cost $ 8, the entrance to the Pyramid of Cheops itself will cost $ 16. And of course, it is worth visiting the two pyramids of Khafre and Mykerin standing next to each other, each will cost $ 4. And to see the Solar Boat - $ 7.

It is impossible to appreciate the full power and grandeur of the Pyramid of Cheops shrouded in many secrets from photographs or words.

You just need to see it with your own eyes and touch this ancient, truly impressive structure.

To the question How much does the legendary pyramid of Cheops weigh? given by the author Lady the best answer is The Great Pyramid, the last remaining wonder from the ancient list of the seven wonders of the world, is a fantastic masterpiece of engineering, not only because of its giant size. It weighs 6.5 million tons and contains more building material than it took to build all the cathedrals, churches and chapels in England! Its uniqueness also lies in the exceptional accuracy of the orientation of the faces according to the cardinal points. The error is negligible - 0.015 percent! Today, achieving such accuracy would require the use of laser theodolites, topographic maps with a resolution of 10 meters and an army of engineers, astronomers and masons.
By the way, the word Pyramid does not define a three-dimensional triangle, and at the same time its root is not even Egyptian. The word Pyramid is made up of Greek word"pyra" in the meaning of fire, light (or visible) and the Greek word "midos" in the meaning of measures (another meaning is the middle (inside)) . The fact is that until 1301, when, after a strong earthquake, the Arabs began to use the loosened lining for the construction and restoration of palaces and mosques in the destroyed Cairo, the Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops - in ancient Greek transcription / 2590-2568 BC /. ), which had an initial height of 146.6 meters (now 138 meters) was lined with polished limestone slabs. Part of the cladding (top 22 rows) is still preserved on the Khafre pyramid. They were so shiny that they could be seen hundreds of kilometers away.
The base of the Pyramid, resting on a granite surface with a deviation from the horizontal of no more than two cm, is an almost perfect square (maximum deviation 3 minutes 33 seconds) with sides of about 230 meters (northern 230.1, western and eastern 230.2, southern 230.3). And the whole structure, which today consists of 203 rows of masonry, was erected without cranes, wheels and powerful stone-cutting tools. Why did the ancient architects achieve such high accuracy, if this accuracy could not even be seen with the naked eye?
One of the answers to these questions, perhaps, lies in the desire of the ancient architects to encrypt some fundamental numerical values ​​in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid. And this requires high dimensional accuracy. As a result, for example, the ratio of the length of the base of the pyramid to its height, divided in half, gives the famous number "pi" (the ratio of the circumference to its diameter) to six decimal places! This number is also mentioned in the ancient Egyptian papyrus Rinda (kept in the British Museum in London). Perhaps it is deliberately encrypted in the size of the Pyramid of Cheops, and with a more accurate value than the great Archimedes, who lived 2000 years later, knew it!

Answer from OLKA[guru]
The largest of the Egyptian pyramids, the tomb of Cheops, consists of 2,300,000 hewn limestone stones weighing about 2.5 tons each. Total weight pyramid is 5,750,000 tons, and the height is 146 meters. It is believed that it was built over 20 years by 100,000 slaves. By the way, from the stones of the tomb of Cheops it was possible to build modern city with a population of 120 thousand people!

Answer from Leonid Yaroshevsky[guru]
Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) - the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World that has survived to this day. Dozens of Egyptian pyramids are known. The largest of them are the pyramids of Cheops, Khafre and Menkaure.
Initially, the height of the pyramid was 146.6 meters (approximately a fifty-story skyscraper), however, due to earthquakes, the onset of sands and partial dismantling by the local population, its height has now decreased by 9.8 meters and is now 137.2 meters. The length of the side of the pyramid is 230 meters. It is made up of approximately 2.3 million stone cubes stacked in 203 tiers (originally 210). The average weight of a stone is 2.5 tons, but there are also larger ones, whose weight reached 15 tons. The pyramid was built in the 26th century BC. e. pharaoh Khufu (2590-2568 BC), in Greek his name sounded like "Cheops". Thus more three thousand years (before the construction of the cathedral in Lincoln, England, around 1300), the pyramid was the tallest building on Earth. The volume of this pyramid is approximately 2,521,000 cubic meters. Its base area is 53,000 square meters (the area of ​​10 football fields). The weight of the pyramid is 6,400,000 tons. Its base rests on a natural rocky elevation about 9 m high in the center. The architect of the pyramid is Hemiun, the vizier and relative of Cheops.

Answer from alien[guru]
The greatest monument of mankind is the pyramid of Cheops - it stands on the edge of the desert to the west of the Nile. The pyramid was built by Pharaoh Khufu (2590 - 2568 BC), in Greek his name was Cheops. At present, the height of the pyramid is 138 m, although originally it was 147 m. The pyramid is made up of 2.5 million limestone blocks of various sizes, weighing an average of 2.5 tons. erected only with the help of lifting mechanisms, rollers, sledges, using draft force bulls. The pyramid stands on a specially prepared plane, which horizontally gives a deviation of less than 2 cm. The base of the pyramid is a square with a side equal to 227.5 m, oriented to the cardinal points.
From the entrance, located on the north side, one can reach the Grand Gallery leading to the pharaoh's tomb. The length of the gallery is 46.6 m. The crypt is located at a height of 42.7 m above ground level, inside it stands an empty granite sarcophagus. There are two more empty rooms in the pyramid.
The purpose of the pyramids has not yet been finally clarified. There are many scientific theories and assumptions.
According to one theory, the pyramids were the tomb of the pharaoh, but neither in the pyramid of Cheops nor in other pyramids were found dead bodies or objects indicating burial. When in the ninth century people entered the pyramid of Cheops and explored the crypt, the sarcophagus was empty and no signs of a previous ruin were found.

The only 7 wonders of the world that have survived to this day is the pyramid of Cheops, or the pyramid of Khufu, as the Egyptians themselves call it, unlike the rest of the world, which uses the Greek pronunciation of the name of the pharaoh.

In order to fully realize how far from us those times when the Cheops pyramid was built, one has only to think that for the contemporaries of the other six wonders of the world, the Great Pyramid at Giza was so old that they no longer knew the solution to its secret.

Despite the fact that the most great pyramid in the world has an age of more than four thousand years, it is quite well preserved to our times. Today excursions to Egyptian pyramids can be ordered from almost any hotel in Cairo.

History and construction of the Great Pyramid of Cheops

It is believed that a certain Hemion, the nephew and vizier of the pharaoh, and, by compatibility, also a court architect, was engaged in the embodiment of royal ambitions. The pyramid of Cheops was built around 2540 BC, and its construction began twenty years earlier - somewhere in 2560 BC.

More than two million huge stones were needed to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. The largest blocks weighed several tens of tons. For the construction weighing 6.4 million tons, so that it does not go underground under its own weight, solid rocky soil was chosen. Granite blocks were delivered from a quarry, which was located at a distance of 1000 km. Scientists still cannot find an answer to the question of how these stones were transported and how the Cheops pyramid was built.

A lot of controversy is also caused by the purpose of the highest pyramid in Ancient Egypt. According to the most common opinion, this is indeed the tomb of Cheops (the second pharaoh of the IV dynasty of rulers) and members of his family. Nevertheless, discussions around the riddle of the pyramid do not subside. For example, from the point of view of some astronomers, a kind of observatory was equipped here, since the ventilation ducts and corridors point to the stars Sirius, Tuban, and Alnitak with amazing accuracy. It is also interesting that during the construction of the pyramid of Cheops, the coordinates of the Earth's magnetic poles were also taken into account.

Geometry and description of Khufu's pyramid

The dimensions of the pyramid of Cheops surprise even modern man. Its foundation occupies a huge area of ​​53 thousand square meters, which is commensurate with ten football fields. Other parameters are no less striking: the length of the base is 230 m, the length of the side rib is the same, and the area of ​​the side surface is 85.5 thousand square meters.

Now the height of the Cheops pyramid is 138 meters, but initially it reached 147 meters, which can be compared with a fifty-story skyscraper. The years have left their mark on the safety of the pyramid. Numerous earthquakes over thousands of years brought down the stone top of the structure, and the smooth stone that lined the outer walls crumbled. Nevertheless, the interior of the attraction, despite the many robbery and vandal invasions, remained almost unchanged.

The entrance to the pyramid, located from the north, was originally at a height of almost 16 meters and was sealed with a granite plug. Now tourists get inside through a huge gap made ten meters below, left in 1820 by the Arabs, led by Caliph Abdullah al-Mamun, who attempted to find the treasures supposedly hidden here.

Inside the pyramid of Cheops there are three tombs located one above the other. The lowest, unfinished underground chamber is located at the base of the rock. Above it are the burial chambers of the queen and the pharaoh, to which the Grand Gallery ascends. Those who built the pyramid created a complex system of corridors and shafts, the plan of which is still being studied by scientists. Egyptologists put forward a whole theory of understanding the afterlife of people of that time. These arguments explain the secret doors and other design features.

For many years now, the Pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops in Giza, like the Great Sphinx, is in no hurry to reveal all its secrets. For tourists, it remains the most striking attraction of Egypt. It is impossible to fully comprehend the secrets of its corridors, shafts and ventilation ducts. Only one thing is clear: the Great Pyramid is the fruit of a brilliant design idea.

• There are many opinions about when the Cheops pyramid was built and who did it. The most original assumptions are various versions about the construction completed long before the Flood by civilizations that did not survive it, as well as hypotheses about alien creators.
• Despite the fact that no one knows the exact time when the Cheops pyramid was built, in Egypt, the date of the start of its construction is celebrated at the official level - August 23, 2560 BC.
• The latest excavations carried out at the beginning of the 21st century show that the work of the pyramid builders was hard, but at the same time they were well taken care of. They had a high-calorie diet of meat and fish and comfortable sleeping places. Many Egyptologists are of the opinion that they were not even slaves.
• Studying the ideal proportions of the Great Pyramid at Giza, scientists came to the conclusion that already in those days the ancient Egyptians knew very well what the golden ratio was, and actively used its principle when creating a drawing.

• Inside the pyramid of Cheops there are no decorative paintings and historical inscriptions, except for a small portrait in the passage to the queen's chamber. There is not even any evidence that the pyramid belonged to Pharaoh Khufu at all.
• Until 1300, for three millennia, the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure on the planet, until they built one that exceeded it. Cathedral in Lincoln.
• The heaviest stone block used in the construction of the pyramid weighs 35 tons and is placed above the entrance to the pharaoh's burial chamber.
• Before the Arab vandal invasion of Egypt, the outer slabs of the Cairo pyramid were so carefully polished that they radiated a mysterious shimmer in the light of the moon, and in the rays of the sun their lining shone with a soft peach light.
• To study rooms that are difficult for a person to reach, scientists used a special robot.
• From 6 to 10 thousand tourists visit the pyramids daily, and about 3 million a year.

Useful information for tourists

Currently, in the museum on the south side of the pyramid, you can get acquainted with the exhibits that were found during excavations and in the pyramid itself. There is an opportunity to see the restored unique cedar boat (Sun Boat), which was built by the ancient Egyptians. You can also buy souvenirs here. And the next point of view on the territory will be the Great Sphinx.

In the evenings, a light and sound show is shown in Giza: alternate floodlighting of local attractions is accompanied by a fascinating story, including in Russian and in English.

Opening hours of the museum complex in Giza

• daily from 8.00 to 17.00;
• in winter - until 16.30;
• during Ramadan - until 15.00.

Ticket prices

• entrance ticket to the Giza zone for foreigners - $ 8;
• entrance to the pyramid of Cheops - $16;
• inspection solar boat – $7.

For children and students, prices are usually two times lower.

• To visit the pyramid of Cheops, only 300 tickets are sold per day: 150 at 8.00 and 150 at 13.00.
• It is best to go to the pyramids in the morning in order to grab a ticket and protect yourself from the midday heat.
• The entrance to the pyramid is very low, you have to walk 100 meters bent over, besides, it is very dry, hot and slightly dusty inside. People suffering from claustrophobia, diseases of the respiratory tract and heart of the waters are undesirable.
• Photo and video shooting is prohibited inside. As for photographs against the background of the Great Pyramid, it is better not to give your camera into the wrong hands, as there are frequent cases of theft.
• It is better to take a photo of the Cheops pyramid (as well as other pyramids) in the morning or in the evening, when the sun does not shine too brightly, otherwise the image will turn out to be flat.
• Climbing the pyramid is strictly prohibited.
• For local residents tourists are the main and often the only source of income, so you will constantly be offered something to buy. Therefore, think carefully whether you need certain offers, and in any case, be sure to bargain. Tipping is given only to those who really deserve it.
• Be careful: there are a lot of pickpockets around.

How to get to the pyramid of Cheops

Address: Egypt, Cairo, El Giza District, El Haram Street

Arriving from Cairo:

• By metro (line number 2) - to Giza station. Then transfer to bus number 900 or number 997 and drive along Al-Haram avenue for 15–20 minutes.
• By bus number 355 and number 357 from the airport and Heliopolis. Runs every 20 minutes.
• By taxi to Al Haram.

From Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh: by tourist bus or taxi.