PYRAMIDS of GIZA

The sides are oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass and the length of each side at the base is 755 feet (230.4 m). The faces rise at an angle of 51º 52’ and their original height was 481 feet (147 m). (They currently rise 451 feet .) It was constructed using around 2,300,000 limestone blocks, each weighing an average of 2.5 tons. Some blocks weigh as much as 16 tons. For centuries, the Great Pyramid was encased in smooth limestone, but this was plundered in our era to build Cairo.

Toward the end of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-c.2613 BCE) the vizier Imhotep ((c. 2667-2600 BCE) devised a means of creating an elaborate tomb, unlike any other, for his king Djoser. Prior to Djoser's reign (c. 2670 BCE) tombs were constructed of mud fashioned into modest mounds known as mastabas. Imhotep conceived of a then-radical plan of not only building a mastaba out of stone but of stacking these structures on top of one another in steps to create an enormous, lasting, monument. His vision led to the creation of Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara, still standing in the present day, the oldest pyramid in the world.

Interestingly, the spiritual importance of Giza appears to cross the ages. In late 2010, archaeologists announced the discovery of about 400 malnourished people, buried with few grave goods, located near the Wall of the Crow. They date to between 2,700 and 2,000 years ago, two millennia after the pyramids had been built, their burial location suggesting they had a desire to be near Giza.



She cited UNWTO data from January and February, which saw a 52 percent increase in international visitors compared with the same time last year. Carvao said that despite the recent attacks, she expects tourism to continue to climb in Egypt through 2017.

The question of how the pyramids were built has not received a wholly satisfactory answer. The most plausible one is that the Egyptians employed a sloping and encircling embankment of brick, earth, and sand, which was increased in height and in length as the pyramid rose; stone blocks were hauled up the ramp by means of sledges, rollers, and levers. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the Great Pyramid took 20 years to construct and demanded the labour of 100,000 men. This figure is believable given the assumption that these men, who were agricultural labourers, worked on the pyramids only (or primarily) while there was little work to be done in the fields—i.e., when the Nile River was in flood. By the late 20th century, however, archaeologists found evidence that a more limited workforce may have occupied the site on a permanent rather than a seasonal basis. It was suggested that as few as 20,000 workers, with accompanying support personnel (bakers, physicians, priests, etc.), would have been adequate for the task.

Menkaure's pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple, and the king's pyramid. The valley temple once contained several statues of Menkaure. During the 5th Dynasty, a smaller ante-temple was added on to the valley temple. The mortuary temple also yielded several statues of Menkaure. The king's pyramid has three subsidiary or queen's pyramids.[6]:26–35 Of the four major monuments, only Menkaure's pyramid is seen today without any of its original polished limestone casing.[3]

That reality is more visible, just a few blocks away, towards the banks of the River Nile. The marble-encrusted lobbies of Cairo's many luxury hotels overlooking the Nile, once bustling with globetrotting tourists from every corner of the earth, are now silent.

"I think the uprising in 2011 and the uncertainty throughout the transition period from Mubarak to Morsi contributed people staying away," he added. "It's really not terribly surprising given everything that's happened since January 25, 2011, that the Egyptian tourism has been hit extremely hard. In 2010, the country welcomed something like 15 million foreign tourists. They haven't even come close to that since. It's unfortunate."

But don’t give up on the Louvre. It’s over 650,000 square feet and has a lot of important artwork that can be enjoyed in peace, like the sculptures Venus de Milo and Nike of Samothrace.

The South Field includes mastabas dating from the 1st-3rd Dynasties as well as later burials.[16] Of the more significant of these early dynastic tombs are one referred to as "Covington's tomb", otherwise known as Mastaba T, and the large Mastaba V which contained artifacts naming the 1st Dynasty pharaoh Djet.[17][16] Other tombs date from the late Old Kingdom (5th and 6th Dynasty). The south section of the field contains several tombs dating from the Saite period and later.[6]:294–297

We know tens of thousands of people built the Pyramids, although there is no way to know exactly how many. Until recently it was believed they were constructed with slave labor, but we now know that seasonal laborers worked, lived and were buried on site. One work gang inscribed their nickname on the inside of the Pyramid they built: 'The Drunkards of Menkaure.'

In the late 1980s and ’90s, excavations in the environs of the pyramids revealed labourers’ districts that included bakeries, storage areas, workshops, and the small tombs of workers and artisans. Mud sealings seem to date the workshop areas to the late 4th dynasty. The tombs range from simple mud-brick domes to more-elaborate stone monuments. Statuettes were found within some of the structures; hieroglyphic inscriptions on tomb walls occasionally identify the deceased.

The site contains many archaeological remains, reflecting what life was like in the ancient Egyptian city, which include temples, of which the most important is the Temple of Ptah in Mit Rahina. Ptah was the local god of Memphis, the god of creation and the patron of craftsmanship. Other major religious buildings included the sun temples in Abu Ghurab and Abusir, the temple of the god Apis in Memphis, the Serapeum and the Heb-Sed temple in Saqqara. Being the seat of royal power for over eight dynasties, the city also contained palaces and ruins survive of the palace of Apries overlooking the city. The palaces and temples were surrounded by craftsmen’s workshops, dockyards and arsenals, as well as residential neighbourhoods, traces of which survive.