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You are now standing atop Khufu, 449 feet above the plateau. Until early in the 20th century, this pyramid was the tallest building on Earth. The wooden surveying tripod at the summit indicates the original height of Khufu, which was 481 feet. The top stones have since fallen off or been removed. Note the graffiti that has been carved into the stones by previous visitors, some dating back to earlier centuries.
Other things to look for as you navigate around the summit are the Sphinx, Khufu's boat pits, Khufu's Queens' Pyramids, Greater Giza and Cairo, and, of course, Khafre's Pyramid. Climbing Khufu is prohibited, so enjoy this rare and beautiful view.
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In 1954, the Egyptian archeologist Kamal el Mallak made an astonishing discovery. In a pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid, he uncovered one of the world's oldest planked vessels. Buried in pieces by Khufu's son, the so-called Solar Barque may have carried the pharaoh's body across the Nile for burial, or it may have served solely a symbolic purpose, lying ready to transport the king in the afterlife.
The boat's 1,224 separate components included cedarwood planking and oars, ropes of halfa grass, wooden dowels and battens, and copper staples. Its near-perfect preservation allowed conservators to reconstruct the 144-foot-long craft, which is now housed in a white museum built over the pit where it was found. Modern ropes were used to lash it together, but its timbers are 95 percent original.
As you move along this composite image, you'll see the boat's 12 oars, ten along the sides and two larger ones at the stern. The blades were insufficient to move a vessel of this size and were either ornamental or used for steering only. The high, curving prow and stern resemble those of papyrus boats common in ancient Egypt. Notice also the cabin and canopy amidships, which were originally covered in rush matting. Can you find the forward canopy?
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Khafre's Pyramid is second to his father Khufu's Pyramid in size, but since it is built on higher ground and at a steeper angle (about 53°), it appears taller. It is 695 feet on a side at the base and stands 450 feet high (originally 473 feet). Scholars estimate its overall volume at a mind-boggling 58,100,000 cubic feet.
This view was shot from Khafre's Mortuary Temple, the ruins of which stand at the eastern base of the Khafre Pyramid. The temple was one element within the pharaoh's vast funerary complex, which included, besides the Pyramid, a lengthy causeway stretching downhill from the Mortuary Temple to the Sphinx and a Valley Temple, both of which in olden days would have stood on the edge of the Nile. (A change in the river's course has left it farther east today.)
You start facing the Khafre Pyramid and the smaller Menkaure Pyramid to its left. Working around to the right, you can see, to the north, the Great Pyramid of Khufu; to the east, the plateau drops down to the Nile, with Cairo beyond; and to the south, the Menkaure Pyramid and the vastness of the Sahara. Can you find the Solar Barque museum?
The most enigmatic of sculptures, the Sphinx was carved from a single block of limestone left over in the quarry used to build the Pyramids. Scholars believe it was sculpted about 4,600 years ago by the pharaoh Khafre, whose Pyramid rises directly behind it and whose face may be that represented on the Sphinx.
Half human, half lion, the Sphinx is 240 feet long and 66 feet high. Badly eroded, it has undergone numerous restorations over the millennia, beginning with one conducted about 1400 B.C. by the pharaoh Thutmosis IV, who dreamt that the Sphinx asked him to clear the sand around it in return for the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Sphinx has recently undergone a major modern restoration.
In this 180° image, as you "walk" around the Sphinx from its left side to its right, watch the sunrise first strike the top of the Khafre Pyramid in the background, then light up the Sphinx itself.
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This view of the Giza Plateau is taken from an escarpment that sits above a modern cemetery looking out on the ancient cemetery of the pharaohs. Before you lies the necropolis in all its glory, and behind you the vastness of the Sahara. See if you can zoom in and find the Sphinx.
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The Pyramids were not laid out willy-nilly on the Giza Plateau. Each side of each of the three Pyramids lines up precisely east-west or north-south. It's a bit of a mystery how the ancients achieved such a perfect alignment, considering they did not have the magnetic compass at their disposal. The Pyramids' proportions are just as exacting. For example, the difference between the Great Pyramid's longest and shortest sides, which average 755.5 feet along the base, is but seven inches.
As you scroll along this image, which was shot from the desert a few miles south of the Pyramids, notice how the three structures—those of Menkaure, his father Khafre, and his grandfather Khufu—line up perfectly along their righthand edges.