The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest of the Giza Pyramids and the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one still standing. It was built for King Khufu around 2560 BC and remained the tallest structure on earth for about 3,800 years.
Size
Each side of the base is about 230 meters long, and the base covers about 5.3 hectares (13 acres). The pyramid was about 146 meters (481 feet) high when finished; it is about 138 meters today, because the smooth outer casing of white limestone and the capstone are gone. It is made of roughly 2.3 million blocks, most of local limestone, with granite from Aswan for the burial chamber. Its sides line up with north, south, east and west with an error of a tiny fraction of a degree.
Inside
A narrow passage leads up to the Grand Gallery, a soaring corridor about 47 meters long and almost 9 meters high, and on to the King’s Chamber, built of red granite, which holds an empty stone sarcophagus. Above it, five low relieving chambers spread the weight of the stone; in them, workers painted the names of their teams, such as “Friends of Khufu”. There is also a so-called Queen’s Chamber and an unfinished chamber cut into the bedrock. In 2017 and 2023 scientists using cosmic-ray imaging found a large hidden void above the Grand Gallery and a sealed corridor behind the entrance.
Visiting
Going inside needs an extra ticket and some fitness: the climb is steep, low in places and hot. Read more on how the pyramids were built, and visit on our Cairo day tours.
