Egypt Guide
The Pyramids
The Pyramids of Giza
Of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, only the Pyramids of Giza have withstood the ravages of time. "From the summit of these monuments, forty centuries look upon you", cried Napoleon; "A practical joke played on History", retorted another visitor. The Great Pyramid of Cheops has inspired more learned and crackpot speculation than any monument on earth. For millions of people, the Giza Pyramids embody antiquity and mystery. Burdened with expectations, however, you may find the reality disappointing. Resembling small triangles from afar and corrugated mountains as you approach, their gigantic mass can seem oddly two-dimensional when viewed from below. Far from being isolated in the desert as carefully angled photos suggest, they rise just beyond the outskirts of Giza City. During daytime, hordes of touts and tourists dispel any lingering mystique, as do the Sound and Light shows after dark. Only at sunset, dawn and late at night does their brooding majesty return.
As site plans suggest, the Pyramids' orientation is no accident. Their entrances are aligned with the Polar Star (or rather, its position 4500 years ago); the internal tomb chambers face west, the direction of the Land of the Dead; and the external funerary temples point eastwards towards the rising sun. Less well preserved are the causeways leading to the so-called valley temples, and various subsidiary pyramids and mastaba tombs. The entire site is being renovated by Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) and continues to yield surprises.