When did the construction of the Cheops pyramid begin? Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) – interesting facts. Current state of affairs and appearance after the disappearance of the cladding

Daria Nessel | Dec 21, 2016

The Pyramid of Cheops (Pyramid of Khufu) is one of the most famous and the only one that has survived to this day, which anyone who comes to Cairo can see. Its age dates back to approximately 2500 BC. For about fifty hundred years it has been towering, surprising and striking with its size, in a burning Egyptian desert. This unique complex has been studied for centuries. More than one generation of Egyptologists and archaeologists have “broken many copies” by arguing over its purpose and methods of construction. Thanks to the pyramid of Khufu (whom the Greeks called Cheops), the science of pyramidology appeared. Adherents of unconventional teachings and magicians of all times also put forward their own speculations describing the genesis of this grandiose creation.

Versions about the methods of building the Cheops pyramid

The Pyramid of Cheops was built by the architect and chief Hemiun, a cousin or nephew of the supreme ruler himself. The methods used by the Egyptians in its construction were forgotten and lost due to wars, civil strife, unfavorable weather conditions, which fell on Ancient Egypt, when no memories remained of its former wealth and power.

There are many interpretations explaining how the Cheops pyramid was built. The first was proposed by Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the 5th century BC. and left detailed description what he saw. According to him, more than 100,000 slaves were involved in the construction, many of whom died in this difficult work. Using wooden levers, they lifted huge basalt blanks to the desired level. This option does not stand up to criticism, since it is problematic to imagine such levers capable of supporting almost a three-ton stone and lifting it to a height of more than 140 meters (residents of the Nile Valley at that time did not know what a wheel and a block were).

Another version is to use an embankment built around the building as it grows. If we adhere to this point of view, then the volume of excavation work performed will also require a huge number of workers.

Meanwhile, the most modern archaeological finds indicate that near the construction site there was a settlement where about 4,500 people lived permanently in the construction of the tomb. These people were not slaves, they ate well and had good homes. It is estimated that up to 20,000 Egyptians were employed in temporary work after agricultural work ended.

The third is the use of a spiral external ramp around the entire perimeter. But its use did not provide an explanation of how the inner chamber was made, where the pharaoh’s sarcophagus is located, located 50 m above the base, and where one relatively narrow corridor leads.

Pyramid of Khufu - sparkling crystal of Egypt

The Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt is a geometric body with a square base with a perimeter of 922 m, with a height from the base of 146 m (original, now 138 m). The angle of inclination of its geometrically ideal faces was 51 degrees. It is lined with limestone blocks of 2.5 tons.

In the center there are three rooms made of five-ton polished granite blocks, in one of which there is a sarcophagus of the pharaoh. The purpose of the two smaller chambers located above it is unknown. According to the latest assumptions, they serve as a shock absorber to prevent the “king’s chambers” from being crushed. The entire cavity of the building, except for the tunnel leading to the rooms and down below the base, as well as two ventilation drifts, is completely filled with monoliths.

Until 1168, Khufu's tomb was lined with polished elements made of soft material, which made it look like crystal sparkling in the sun. Subsequently, the cladding was used by the people of Cairo to restore their city after the Arab invasion. The total weight of the monument, resting on a carved rock foundation, is over 5 million tons. Even with today's advanced technologies and techniques, it is difficult to imagine a way to firmly construct this architectural miracle.

Theories for the creation of the Cheops pyramid

French architect Jean Pierre Roudin became interested in Khufu's pyramid in 1999 and devoted 10 years of his hard work to it. As a professional designer, he wanted to understand what technical techniques people used almost 5,000 years ago to build it. The result of his examination was the conclusion: the ancient Egyptians used an internal ramp during construction, which grew along with the pyramid and repeated its perimeter, with an inclination angle of no higher than 7 degrees (a steeper rise makes it impossible to move stone parallelepipeds on wooden rollers and runners).

Jean Pierre explained the impeccable execution of geometric proportions by the fact that first the front polished blocks were laid along the intended lines, then two more internal rows of already unpolished, but correctly marked slabs were aligned along them, and then the empty space was filled with roughly sawn limestone. His theory explained how the granite parallelepipeds of the pharaoh's burial chamber were raised and installed at a 50-meter height.

This theory would be recognized as reliable and final if there were voids in the thickness of the Cheops pyramid that remained after construction ceased and indicated the presence of internal ramps. But so far there is no such confirmation.

All experts agree that some parts of Khufu’s pyramid were made at a high technological level that would not have been possible 4000 years ago. So, for example, granite pieces of the structure are cut out of the rock with such precision that it is not possible to insert even a knife blade into the gap between them.

The very fact of Khufu’s burial raises many questions: the granite sarcophagus for his mummy was unfinished, carried out without proper care, and no traces of burial were found. The presence of 15 and 35 ton granite stones in the masonry also cannot be explained. Such inconsistencies have given rise to theories about the divine origin of the pyramid at Giza. Since the end of the 19th century, the Cheops pyramid has become a place of pilgrimage for followers of various esoteric movements and those interested in magic, who proclaimed it the habitat of spirits and demons.

Edgar Cayce, the most famous of all occultists (1877–1945), proclaimed that it was created by the Atlanteans 10,000 BC to escape the Great Flood, and that it contained the lost wisdom of an advanced civilization.

The beginning of the space age gave birth to the fabrication of the involvement of aliens in its construction. The most popular author of one of these conclusions, the Swiss Erich von Däniken, hypothesized that the Cheops pyramid was constructed by aliens to store the bodies of representatives of foreign civilizations who died on Earth; and the god Ra, whom the local population worshiped, is an alien, and all the myths and religion of this period are simply a distorted reflection of reality. Careful geometric and astronomical research led to unexpected discoveries that can be attributed either to random coincidences or to patterns:

• the ratio of base to height is approximately 3.14 (pi);
• the direction of the corridor and ventilation shafts coincides with the location in the sky of the North Star, the stars Sirius and Alnitak.

The latter led to the emergence of the theory that the Cheops pyramid was nothing more than an astronomical observatory.

In the 60–70s of the 20th century. a new surge of interest in this object occurred due to the experiment of the Czech Karel Dribal, who placed a dull razor inside a cardboard copy (15 cm) of the pyramid, and after a few days its initial sharpness returned.

When they were removing fragments of stones from near Khufu's pyramid, they noticed a closed triangular chamber consisting of heavy limestone slabs. This was in 1955. Having lifted the slab with the image of Jephedra, they found a huge boat consisting of 1224 parts. It was big boat from Lebanese cedar. It consisted of 2 cabins and could float on water while operating 10 oars. The acacia fragments required repair. The rook took 10 years to assemble. In 1971 it was exhibited at the Solar Boat Museum.

There was also a second chamber; it was not opened for a long time. But in 1987, another smaller boat was found by radar. It is poorly preserved. In 2008, money was allocated for excavations, and in 2011 its parts were raised to the top.

The most ancient wonder of the world, which we can still admire now, is the Pyramid of Cheops. Shrouded in myths and legends, the Egyptian pyramid was the largest and tall structure for many millennia. Khufu (another name for the pyramid) is located in Giza - the most popular tourist destination.

History of the pyramids

The pyramids in Egypt are practically the main attraction of the country. There are many hypotheses related to their origin and construction. But they all converge on one important conclusion: the pyramids in Egypt are impressive tombs for the great inhabitants of the country (in those days these were the pharaohs). The Egyptians believed in the afterlife and life after death. It was believed that only a few were worthy of continuing their life's journey after death - these were the pharaohs themselves, their families and the slaves who were constantly close to the rulers. Images of slaves and servants were painted on the walls of tombs so that after their death they could continue to serve their king. According to the ancient religion of the Egyptians, man had two inner souls, Ba and Ka. Ba left the Egyptian after his death, and Ka always acted as a virtual double and waited for him in the world of the dead.

So that Pharaoh does not need anything afterlife, food, weapons, kitchen utensils, gold and much more were left in the pyramid tomb. In order for the body to remain unchanged and wait for the second soul of Ba, it was necessary to preserve it. This is how the birth of body embalming and the need to create pyramids arose.

The emergence of pyramids in Egypt dates back to the construction of the pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser 5 thousand years ago. The outer walls of the first pyramid were in the form of steps, which symbolized the ascent to heaven. The height of the structure was 60 meters with many corridors and several tombs. Djoser's chamber was located in the underground part of the pyramid. From the royal tomb, several more passages were made leading to small chambers. They contained all the accessories for the further afterlife of the Egyptians. Closer to the east, chambers for the entire family of the pharaoh were found. The structure itself was not so huge compared to the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops, whose height was almost 3 times greater. But it is with the pyramid of Djoser that the history of the emergence of all Egyptian pyramids begins.

Very often in the photo of the Cheops pyramid you can see two more pyramids standing nearby. This famous pyramids Herfen and Mekerin. It is these three pyramids that are considered the most important assets of the country. The height of the Cheops pyramid significantly distinguishes it from the others located nearby and other pyramids in Egypt. Initially, the walls of the structure were smooth, but after a long period of years they began to crumble. If you look at modern photos of the Cheops pyramid, you can see the relief of the facade and its unevenness, formed over millennia.

Birth of the Cheops Pyramid

Pyramid of Cheops official version was erected in the fall of 2480 BC. Date of first occurrence ancient miracle light, many historians and researchers dispute, giving arguments in favor of their arguments. The construction of the Great Pyramid lasted about 2-3 decades. More than one hundred thousand inhabitants of ancient Egypt and the best craftsmen of that time took part in it. The first step was to build a large road for the delivery of building materials, then underground passages and a mine. Most of time was spent on the construction of the upper part of the pyramid - the walls and internal passages and tombs.

There are very interesting feature buildings: the height of the Cheops pyramid in its original form and the width were 147 meters. Due to the sands filling the base of the building and sprinkling of the facing part, it decreased by 10 meters and is now 137 meters in height. The giant tomb was built mainly from huge blocks of limestone and granite, weighing about 2.5 tons, which were carefully polished so as not to lose the ideal shape of the structure. And in the tomb of the most ancient pharaoh, granite blocks were found, the weight of which reached almost 80 tons. According to Egyptologists, about 2,300,000 huge stones were needed, which cannot but impress us all.

Doubts associated with the construction of the pyramid were that in those dark times There were no special machines or devices at all capable of lifting and ideally stacking heavy blocks at a certain slope. Some believed that more than a million people took part in the construction, others that the blocks were lifted by a lifting mechanism. Everything was so thought out and as perfect as possible that without the use of concrete mortar and cement, the stones were laid in such a way that it was completely impossible to insert even thin paper between them! There is an assumption that the pyramid was created not by people at all, but by aliens or another force unknown to man.

We are based specifically on the fact that the pyramids are still the creation of people. In order to quickly remove a stone of the required size and shape from the rock, its outlines were made. A conventional shape was carved out, and dry wood was inserted there. It was regularly watered, the moisture made the tree grow larger, and under its pressure a crack formed in the rock. Now a large block was removed and given the required shape and size. The stones for construction were redirected along the river by huge boats.

To lift heavy boulders to the top, massive sleds made of wood were used. Along the gentle slope, the stones were lifted one after another by teams of hundreds of slaves.

Pyramid device

The entrance to the pyramid was not originally where it is now. It had the shape of an arch and was located on the northern side of the building with a height of more than 15 meters. In an attempt to rob great tomb in 820 a new entrance was made, already at a height of 17 meters. But Caliph Abu Jafar, who wanted to enrich himself with the loot, did not find any jewelry or valuable things and left with nothing. It is this passage that is now open to tourists.

The pyramid consists of several long corridors leading to the tombs. Immediately after the entrance there is a common corridor that diverges into 2 tunnels leading to the central and lower part of the pyramid. For some reason, the chamber below was not completed. There is also a narrow loophole, behind which there is only a dead end and a three-meter well. Climbing up the corridor, you will find yourself in the Great Gallery. If you take the first left and walk a little, you will see the chamber of the ruler's wife. And along the corridor above is the largest one - the tomb of the pharaoh himself.

The beginning of the gallery is interesting because there is a long and narrow almost vertical Grotto built there. There is an assumption that he was there even before the foundation of the pyramid itself. Narrow passages about 20 centimeters wide were made from both tombs of the pharaoh and his wife. Presumably they were made for ventilation of the wards. There is another version that these passages and corridors are indicators of the stars: Sirius, Alnitaki and Thuban and that the pyramid served as a place for astronomical research. But there is another opinion - according to the belief in the afterlife, the Egyptians believed that the soul returned from heaven through channels.

There is one important and interesting fact - the construction of the pyramid was carried out strictly at one angle of 26.5 degrees. There is every reason to assume that the inhabitants of antiquity were very well versed in geometry and the exact sciences. Just look at the proportional, even corridors and ventilation ducts.

Not far from the pyramid itself, Egyptian cedar boats were found during excavations. They were made of pure wood without a single nail. One of the ball's boats is divided into 1224 parts. The restorer Ahamed Yussuf Mustafa managed to assemble it. To achieve this, the architect had to spend 14 years; such high patience in the name of science can only be envied. Today the assembled boat can be admired in the bizarrely shaped museum. It is located on the south side of the Great Pyramid.

Unfortunately, you cannot shoot video or take photographs inside the pyramid itself. But you can take many incredible pictures against the backdrop of this creation. Various souvenirs are also sold here so that an excursion to these enchanting places can remind you of itself for a long time.

Photos of the Cheops pyramid, of course, do not reflect all the greatness and uniqueness of this structure. With us you will plunge into history and look at the world with different eyes!

- Oh Osiris, I don’t want to die! -Who wants it? - Osiris shrugged. “But I... I’m still a pharaoh!.. Listen,” Cheops whispered, “I will sacrifice one hundred thousand slaves to you.” Just allow me to immortalize my life alone! - One hundred thousand? And are you sure that they will all die during construction? - Rest assured. Such a pyramid as I conceived... - Well, if so... Perpetuate it, I don’t mind.

The Pyramid of Cheops

Nobody remembers Cheops alive. Everyone only remembers him when he is dead. He was dead a hundred, a thousand, and three thousand years ago and always, always will be dead - the pyramid immortalized his death.

1. What is called the first wonder of the world?
Already in ancient times, the pyramids of Giza were considered one of the seven “wonders of the world.” The largest of the pyramids was built by Pharaoh Khufu (2590 - 2568 BC), in Greek his name was Cheops. Currently, the height of the pyramid is 138 m, although originally it was 147 m: the top stones fell during earthquakes. The pyramid is made up of 2.5 million limestone blocks of different sizes, weighing an average of 2.5 tons. Initially, it was lined with white sandstone, which was harder than the main blocks, but the lining has not been preserved. At the base of the pyramid lies a square with a side of 230 m, oriented to the cardinal points. According to some legends, the corners of the square symbolize Truth, Reason, Silence and Depth; according to others, the pyramid is based on the four material substances from which the human body is created.
TO greatest creations Antiquity among the pyramids includes only the Cheops Pyramid, also called the Great Pyramid.
At a distance of approximately 160 meters from the Pyramid of Cheops, the Pyramid of Chefre rises, the height of which is 136.6 meters, and the length of the sides is 210.5 meters. At its top, part of the original cladding is still visible.
The Pyramid of Mikerin, which is even smaller, is located 200 meters from the Pyramid of Khafre. Its height is 62 meters, and the length of the sides is 108 meters. But the most famous Egyptian monument in the world after the Pyramid of Cheops is the figure of the Sphinx, vigilantly guarding the city of the dead.
The three pyramids are part of a complex that also consists of several temples, small pyramids, and tombs of priests and officials.
The smaller pyramids further south were probably intended for the wives of rulers and were left unfinished.

2. How was the Cheops pyramid built?

Its height is 146.6 m, which approximately corresponds to a fifty-story skyscraper. The base area is 230x230 m. In such a space, five of the largest cathedrals in the world could easily fit simultaneously: St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, as well as the Florence and Milan cathedrals. From the building stone used for the construction of the Cheops pyramid, it would be possible to build all the churches in Germany created in our millennium. The young pharaoh Cheops gave the order to build the pyramid immediately after the death of his father Snofru. Like all previous pharaohs since the time of Djoser (approximately 2609 -2590 BC), Cheops wanted to be buried after his death in a pyramid.
The ivory statue of Pharaoh Cheops is the only surviving image of the pharaoh. On the head of Cheops is the crown of the Ancient Egyptian kingdom, in his hand is a ceremonial fan.
Like his predecessors, he believed that his pyramid should surpass all other pyramids in size, splendor and luxury. But before the first of the more than two million blocks that made up the pyramid was cut from a quarry on the east bank of the Nile, complex preparatory work was carried out. First, it was necessary to find a suitable site for the construction of the pyramid. The weight of the huge structure is 6,400,000 tons, so the soil had to be strong enough so that the pyramid would not sink into the ground under its own weight. The construction site was chosen south of the modern Egyptian capital Cairo, on a ledge of a plateau in the desert seven kilometers west of the village of Giza. This strong rocky platform was able to support the weight of the pyramid.
First, the surface of the site was leveled. To do this, a waterproof rampart of sand and stones was built around it. In the resulting square, a dense network of small channels intersecting at right angles was cut out, so that the site looked like a huge chessboard. The channels were filled with water, the height of the water level was marked on the side walls, and then the water was drained. The stonemasons cut down everything that protruded above the surface of the water, and the channels were again filled with stone. The base of the pyramid was ready.
Over 4,000 people - artists, architects, stonemasons and other artisans - carried out these preparatory work for about ten years. Only after this could the construction of the pyramid itself begin. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (490 - 425 BC), construction continued for another twenty years, about 100,000 people worked on the construction of the huge tomb of Cheops. Only on radishes, onions and garlic, which were added to the food of construction workers, 1600 talents were spent, i.e. approximately $20 million. Data on the number of workers are questioned by many modern researchers. In their opinion, there simply would not be enough space on the construction site for so many people: more than 8,000 people would not be able to work productively without interfering with each other.
Herodotus, who visited Egypt in 425 BC, wrote: “The method used was to build in steps, or as some call it, in rows or terraces. When the foundation was completed, the blocks for the next row above the foundation were raised from the main level with devices made from short wooden levers; on this first row there was another which raised the blocks one level higher, so step by step the blocks were raised more and more Higher and higher. Each row or level had its own set of mechanisms of the same type that easily moved loads from level to level. The completion of the pyramid began at the top with the highest level, continued down, and ended with the lowest levels closest to the ground."
At the time of the construction of the pyramid, Egypt was a rich country. Every year from the end of June to November, the Nile overflowed its banks and flooded the adjacent fields with its waters, leaving on them a thick layer of silt that turned the dry desert sand into fertile soil. Therefore, in favorable years it was possible to harvest up to three harvests a year - grain, fruits and vegetables. So, from June to November, the peasants could not work in their fields. And they were glad when, every year in mid-June, the pharaoh’s scribe appeared in their village, compiling lists of those willing to work on the construction of the pyramid.

3. Who worked on the construction of the pyramid?
Almost everyone wanted this work, which means it was not forced labor, but voluntary labor. This was explained by two reasons: each construction participant received housing, clothing, food and a modest salary during work. Four months later, when the waters of the Nile receded from the fields, the peasants returned to their villages.

In addition, every Egyptian considered it his natural duty and a matter of honor to participate in the construction of the pyramid for the pharaoh. After all, everyone who contributed to the accomplishment of this grandiose task hoped that a piece of the immortality of the god-like pharaoh would touch him too. Therefore, at the end of June, endless streams of peasants flocked to Giza. There they were housed in temporary barracks and grouped into groups of eight. Work could begin. Having sailed on boats to the other side of the Nile, the men headed to the quarry. There they cut down a block of stone, trimmed it using sledgehammers, wedges, saws and drills and obtained a block of the required dimensions - with sides from 80 cm to 1.45 m. Using ropes and levers, each group installed its block on wooden runners and on them she dragged him along the log flooring to the bank of the Nile. The sailboat transported workers and a block weighing up to 7.5 tons to the other side.

4. What job was the most dangerous?
The stone was dragged along roads lined with logs to the construction site. Here came the hardest work, since cranes and other lifting devices had not yet been invented. Along an inclined entrance 20 m wide, built of bricks from Nile silt, runners with a stone block were pulled with the help of ropes and levers to the upper platform of the pyramid under construction. There, workers laid the block in the place indicated by the architect with millimeter precision. The higher the pyramid rose, the longer and steeper the entrance became and the more and more the upper working platform became smaller. Therefore, the work became more and more difficult.
Then came the turn of the most dangerous work: laying the “pyramidon” - an upper block nine meters high, dragged upward along an inclined entrance. We don’t know how many people died doing just this work. So, twenty years later, the construction of the pyramid body was completed, which consists of 128 layers of stone and is four meters higher than Strasbourg Cathedral. By this time, the pyramid looked much the same as it looks now: it was a stepped mountain. However, the work did not end there: the steps were filled with stones, so that the surface of the pyramid became, although not completely smooth, but without protrusions. To complete the work, the four triangular outer edges of the pyramid were lined with slabs of dazzling white limestone. The edges of the slabs were fitted so precisely that it was impossible to insert even a knife blade between them. Even from a distance of several meters, the pyramid gave the impression of a giant monolith. The outer slabs were polished to a mirror finish using the hardest grinding stones. According to eyewitnesses, in the sun or moonlight, the tomb of Cheops sparkled mysteriously, like a huge crystal glowing from within.

5. What's inside the Cheops pyramid?
The Cheops Pyramid is not made entirely of stone. Inside it there is an extensive system of passages, which through a large passage 47 m long, the so-called large gallery, leads to the pharaoh's chamber - a room 10.5 m long, 5.3 m wide and 5.8 m high. It is entirely lined with granite, but not decorated with any ornament. There is a large empty granite sarcophagus without a lid. The sarcophagus was brought here during construction, since it does not go into any of the passages of the pyramid. Such chambers of the pharaohs are found in almost all Egyptian pyramids; they served last refuge pharaoh.
There are no inscriptions or decorations inside the Cheops pyramid, with the exception of a small portrait in the passage leading to the Queen's chamber. This image resembles a photograph on a stone. On the outer walls of the pyramid there are numerous curvilinear grooves of large and small sizes, in which, at a certain lighting angle, one can discern an image 150 meters high - a portrait of a man, apparently one of the deities of Ancient Egypt. This image is surrounded by other images (the trident of the Atlanteans and Scythians, a bird-plane, plans of stone buildings, pyramid rooms), texts, individual letters, large signs resembling a flower bud, etc. On the northern side of the pyramid there is a portrait of a man and a woman with their heads bowed towards each other. These huge images were painted just a few years before the main pyramid was completed and installed in 2630 BC. top stone.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, located one above the other. The construction of the first chamber was not completed. It is carved into the bedrock. To get into it, you need to overcome 120 m of a narrow descending corridor. The first burial chamber is connected to the second by a horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high. The second chamber is called the “queen’s chamber,” although according to the ritual the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids.
The queen's chamber is surrounded by legends. A legend is associated with it, according to which the pyramid was the main temple of a certain Supreme Deity, a place where ancient secret religious rites were held. Somewhere in the depths of the pyramid lives an unknown creature with the face of a lion, who holds in his hands the seven keys of Eternity. No one can see it except those who have undergone special rites of preparation and purification. Only to them did the Great Priest reveal the secret Divine Name. A person who owns the secret of the name became equal in magical power to the pyramid itself. The main sacrament of initiation took place in the royal chamber. There, the candidate, tied to a special cross, was placed in a huge sarcophagus. The person accepting initiation was, as it were, in the gap between the material world and the divine world, inaccessible to human consciousness.
From the beginning of the horizontal corridor, another one goes up, about 50 m long and more than 8 m high. At the end of it there is a horizontal passage leading to the pharaoh’s burial chamber, trimmed with granite, in which the sarcophagus is placed. In addition to the burial chambers, voids and ventilation shafts were discovered in the pyramid. However, the purpose of many rooms and various void channels is not fully understood. One of these rooms is a room where on a table there is an open book about the history and achievements of the country during the period of completion of the pyramid.
The purpose of the underground structures at the foot of the Cheops pyramid is also unclear. Some of them were opened in different time. In one of the underground structures in 1954, archaeologists found the oldest ship on Earth - a wooden boat called solar, 43.6 m long, disassembled into 1224 parts. It was built of cedar without a single nail and, as evidenced by the traces of silt preserved on it, before the death of Cheops it was still floating on the Nile.

6. How was the pharaoh buried?
After death, the carefully embalmed body of the ruler was placed in the burial chamber of the pyramid. The internal organs of the deceased were placed in special hermetic vessels, the so-called canopies, which were placed next to the sarcophagus in the burial chamber. So, the mortal remains of the pharaoh found their last earthly refuge in the pyramid, and the “ka” of the deceased left the tomb. “Ka,” according to Egyptian ideas, was considered something like a person’s double, his “second self,” which left the body at the moment of death and could move freely between the earthly and the afterlife. Having left the burial chamber, the “ka” rushed to the top of the pyramid along its outer lining, which was so smooth that no mortal could move on it. The father of the pharaohs, the sun god Ra, was already there in his solar boat, in which the deceased pharaoh began his journey to immortality.
Recently, some scientists have expressed doubt that the Great Pyramid was really the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops. They put forward three arguments in favor of this assumption:
The burial chamber, contrary to the customs of that time, does not have any decorations.
The sarcophagus in which the body of the deceased pharaoh was supposed to rest was only roughly hewn, i.e. not completely ready; the cover is missing.
And finally, two narrow passages through which air from outside penetrates into the burial chamber through small holes in the body of the pyramid. But the dead do not need air - here is another weighty argument in favor of the fact that the Cheops pyramid was not a burial place.
7. Who was the first to penetrate the Cheops pyramid?
The entrance to the Cheops pyramid was originally located on the north side, at the level of the 13th row of granite slabs. It is now closed. You can get inside the pyramid through a hole left by ancient robbers.
For more than 3,500 years, the interior of the Great Pyramid was not disturbed by anyone: all the entrances to it were carefully walled up, and the tomb itself, according to the Egyptians, was guarded by spirits ready to kill anyone who tried to penetrate it.
That is why the robbers appeared here much later. The first person to penetrate inside the Cheops pyramid was Caliph Abdallah al-Mamun (813-833 AD), son of Harun al-Rashid. He dug a tunnel to the burial chamber in the hope of finding treasure there, as in other tombs of the pharaohs. But he found nothing except the droppings of the bats that lived there, the layer of which on the floor and walls reached 28 cm. After this, the interest of robbers and treasure hunters in the Cheops pyramid disappeared. But they were replaced by other robbers. In 1168 after R. Chr. part of Cairo was burned and completely destroyed by the Arabs, who did not want it to fall into the hands of the crusaders. When the Egyptians later began rebuilding their city, they removed the shiny white slabs that covered the outside of the pyramid and used them to build new houses. Even now these slabs can be seen in many mosques in the old part of the city. All that remains of the former pyramid is the stepped building - this is how it now appears before the admiring eyes of tourists. Along with the cladding, the pyramid also lost its top, the pyramidon, and upper layers masonry Therefore, now its height is no longer 144.6 m, but 137.2 m. Today, the top of the pyramid is a square with sides of approximately 10 m. This site in 1842 became the venue for unusual festivities. The Prussian king Frederick William IV, known for his love of art, sent an expedition to the Nile Valley under the leadership of archaeologist Richard Lepsius in order to acquire ancient Egyptian art objects and other exhibits for the project being created in Berlin. Egyptian Museum(it was opened in 1855).

Powerful, surrounded by mystery... - this is how the Cheops pyramid stood for 4500 years

The only one of the 7 wonders of the world that has 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.

To fully understand how far from us are those times when the Cheops Pyramid was built, one only has to think that for contemporaries of the other six wonders of the world, the Great Pyramid of Giza was so old that they no longer knew the answer to its secret.

Despite the fact that the largest pyramid in the world is more than four thousand years old, it has been quite well preserved to this day. Today, excursions to the Egyptian pyramids can be booked from almost any hotel in Cairo.

History and construction of the Great Pyramid of Cheops

It is believed that a certain Hemion, the pharaoh’s nephew and vizier, and, by extension, also a court architect, was involved in bringing the royal ambitions to life. 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 structure weighing 6.4 million tons, so that it does not sink underground under its own weight, strong rocky soil was chosen. Granite blocks were delivered from a quarry that was located 1000 km away. Scientists still cannot find the answer to the question of how these stones were transported and how the Cheops pyramid was built

The purpose of the tallest pyramid in Ancient Egypt. According to the most common opinion, this is really the tomb of Cheops (the second pharaoh of the IV dynasty of rulers) and members of his family. But nevertheless, discussions around the mystery of the pyramid do not subside. For example, from the point of view of some astronomers, some kind of observatory was equipped here, since the ventilation ducts and corridors point with amazing accuracy to the stars Sirius, Thuban, and Alnitak. It is also interesting that during the construction of the Cheops pyramid, the coordinates of the Earth’s magnetic poles were also taken into account.

Geometry and description of the pyramid of Khufu

The size of the Cheops pyramid surprises even modern people. Its base occupies a huge area of ​​53 thousand square meters, which is equivalent to ten football fields. Other parameters are no less striking: the length of the base is 230 m, the length of the side edge 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 to a fifty-story skyscraper. The years have left their mark on the safety of the pyramid. Numerous earthquakes over thousands of years collapsed the stone top of the structure, and the smooth stone with which the outer walls were lined crumbled. And yet, the interior of the attraction, despite many robberies and vandals, remained virtually unchanged.

The entrance to the pyramid, located on 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 treasures supposedly hidden here.

Inside the Cheops pyramid 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 pharaoh, to which the rising Great Gallery leads. Created by those who built the pyramid a complex system corridors and mines, the plan of which is still being studied by scientists. Egyptologists have 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, has been 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 of 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 officially celebrated - August 23, 2560 BC.
• The latest excavations, carried out at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that the work of the pyramid builders was hard, but at the same time they were well cared for. 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 perfect proportions 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.

• There are no decorative paintings or historical inscriptions inside the Cheops pyramid, except for a small portrait in the passage to the queen's chamber. There is not even any evidence that the pyramid even belonged to Pharaoh Khufu.
• For three millennia before 1300, the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure on the planet, until a taller one was built. 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 Vandal Arab invasion of Egypt, the outer slabs of the Cairo pyramid were so carefully polished that in the light of the moon they emitted a mysterious shimmer, and in the rays of the sun their cladding shone with a soft peach light.
• To explore rooms that are difficult for humans to reach, scientists used a special robot.
• From 6 to 10 thousand tourists visit the pyramids every day, and about 3 million per year.

Useful information for tourists

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

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

Opening hours of the Giza Museum complex

• 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 Cheops pyramid – $16;
• inspection of the Solar Boat – $7.

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

• To visit the Cheops Pyramid, 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 to grab a ticket and protect yourself from the midday heat.
• The entrance to the pyramid is very low, you will have to walk 100 meters bent over, and it is also very dry, hot and slightly dusty inside. Water is not recommended for people suffering from claustrophobia, diseases of the respiratory tract and heart.
• Photo and video shooting is prohibited inside. As for photographs against the backdrop 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 evening, when the sun is not shining too brightly, otherwise the image will turn out 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 to buy something. Therefore, think carefully about whether you need certain offers, and in any case, be sure to bargain. Give tips only to those who truly deserve them.
• Be careful: there are a lot of pickpockets around.

How to get to the Cheops pyramid

Address: Egypt, Cairo, El Giza district, El Haram street

Getting there from Cairo:

• By metro (line No. 2) - to Giza station. Then transfer to bus No. 900 or No. 997 and drive along Al-Haram avenue for 15–20 minutes.
• By bus No. 355 and No. 357 from the airport and Heliopolis. It runs every 20 minutes.
• Take a taxi to Al-Haram.

From Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh: by tourist bus or taxi.

Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu(Cheops is the Greek version of this Egyptian name) is the most famous and most famous Egyptian pyramid.

First of all, because she - tallest pyramid ever built in the world. Secondly, she became a kind of standard and example for other pharaohs of Ancient Egypt in the construction of their own tombs.

Of course, tombs are a rather arbitrary term, since there is no evidence that they directly served as graves for the mummies of pharaohs, but at the same time, there is every reason to consider them part of funerary-ritual complexes.

Where is the Cheops pyramid located?

It was erected on a stone plateau near the village of Giza, which has now become a suburb of the capital of modern Egypt - Cairo. It is this building that first comes to mind when we hear the words: “Egyptian pyramids”, “pyramids of Egypt”, “great pyramids”, “wonder of the world”.

Many people who have never been to Egypt before believe that the great pyramids of Giza (Cheops, Khafre and Mikerin) are located somewhere far away in the desert, and therefore, when heading west along the Sharia al-Ahram road (“Avenue of the Pyramids”) for the first time, they are surprised to see giant figures towering against the backdrop of distant buildings.

The ancient monuments are now actually located within Greater Cairo. On the recommendation of scientists, certain measures are being taken to stop further expansion of the city in this direction in order to preserve the famous pyramid complex.

When was the Cheops pyramid built?

The question is when was this built great pyramid in Giza, has been one of the widely discussed issues for a long time - from the very beginning of the birth of Egyptology as a science.

At first, Egyptologists - historians and archaeologists - had serious differences of opinion about her age. However, as scientific knowledge accumulated as a result of archaeological excavations, analysis of found artifacts, and study of the entire complex of documents in professional Egyptology, the following point of view began to prevail. This amazing architectural object - the tallest pyramid in the world - was built during the reign of Pharaoh Cheops of the 4th dynasty (c. 2585-2566 BC).

Some scientific schools believe that the reign of Cheops falls on the 27th century BC. Despite certain discrepancies in the matter of dating, it can be stated that, according to historical science, it was built in the 27th or 26th centuries BC. That is, the age of the Cheops pyramid is about 4600 years.

It would be strange if such an opinion prevailed among the general public, which became keenly interested in Egyptian antiquities, starting with the first publications of Egyptologists of the 19th century. This interest continues even after 200 years.

Among lovers of the history of Ancient Egypt, two can be distinguished: large groups– those who rely on the conclusions of professional Egyptologists, and those who focus on more “exotic theories” of the origin of these structures, including the Pyramid of Cheops. The second group of views is based not on a comprehensive and systematic analysis of all the vast material accumulated by Egyptology as a science (this requires a lot of time and preparation), but on the inherent thirst for miracles in human nature.

The pyramids themselves, especially Cheops, are perceived by them as a miracle without any quotation marks. The arguments of scientists seem to them, on the one hand, too complex, on the other, too “down-to-earth”, and therefore not convincing. Much “cooler” seem to them to be the theories of the creation of ancient megastructures by aliens or, for example, by some mysterious civilization that lived long before the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, possessing technical capabilities that are incomprehensible to the mind.

The paradox of the human psyche lies in the fact that it is much easier to believe in a miracle than to admit things that are more or less ordinary. But that's a separate conversation. It only remains to note that there are many non-scientific theories regarding the history and monuments of Ancient Egypt. They call the age of the Cheops pyramid from many tens of thousands of years to 6-7 thousand years, that is, according to these theories, this structure was built much earlier than traditional Egyptology believes.

Despite all the attractiveness and, of course, interestingness, all these concepts have one global drawback - they are based on some assumptions, which, in turn, are not supported by anything. That is, they are suitable for fantasy novels, but not for more or less serious consideration.

Pyramid dimensions

What are dimensions of the Cheops pyramid? It would seem that the answer to this is very easy to get, you just need to take a longer ruler and just try everything on. However, in reality it is not so simple.

Over the almost five thousand years that have passed since its construction, the structure has suffered greatly both from natural disasters and from the barbaric actions of the people themselves. The top of this architectural and construction miracle was originally crowned with a pyramidion - a stone also of a pyramidal shape, presumably carved from red granite. It is gone now, just as the overwhelming number of facing slabs that covered its walls are gone. These polished slabs gave the most high pyramid, according to Herodotus, gray-yellow color and shine.

Measurements made using modern equipment showed that its height after completion was 146.5 meters, but even having lost 9 meters in height, it remains the tallest stone structure on earth.

The main dimensions of the Cheops pyramid and its parts:

Height: 146.5 m (currently 137 m)

Side length: 230.38 m (originally 232.5 m).

Side tilt: 51° 50"

Big Gallery:

Height: 8.48 to 8.74 m

Length 47.85 m

Tilt: 26°16" 40"

Queen's Chamber:

Height: 6.26 m

Length: 5.76 m

Width: 5.23 m

King's Chamber:

Height: 5.84 m

Length: 10.49 m

Width: 5.42 m

Road:

Length: 825 m

Boat pits (on the northeast and southeast corners of the pyramid):

Depth: 8 m

Length 52 m

Width: 7.5 m

Inside the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops

The tomb of Cheops, like everyone else pyramids III and IV dynasties, is an almost solid monolith made of stone blocks. The interior of the pyramid occupies a completely insignificant volume compared to the volume of the pyramid itself. Nevertheless, internal structure of the Cheops pyramid also surprises with its engineering solutions and craftsmanship. It is more complex than the internal structure of the pyramids of Egypt, which were built after it.

Inside the structure there are 4 main rooms, which received the following names in Egyptological literature: the chamber of the king (king), the chamber of the queen (queen), the underground chamber (unfinished) and the Great Gallery.

The entrance is located on its northern side, at a height of 16 meters above the ground. When the first Egyptian antiquity researchers - the French - measured the height, they came up with 12 meters - the base of the pyramid was heavily covered with sand at the end of the 19th century. The original entrance is located above the entrance that tourists now use (it was broken through by the Mamluks of Caliph Al-Mamun in the 9th century AD, because for a long time they could not find the entrance, then hidden under the existing facing slabs).

Boat of Cheops

The tomb of Cheops, like all the pyramid complexes of Ancient Egypt, was surrounded by a wall, of which only ruins now remain. IN south direction, not far from the wall, in 1954, two large pits lined with stone were found, in which disassembled wooden boats were stored - the sacred Solar Boats of the Pharaoh.

The pits with boats were closed with huge stone blocks of limestone weighing up to 16 tons. One of the boats was restored (it took 16 years of painstaking work) and put on display in a pavilion specially built for this purpose next to the ancient object.

The boat is made mainly from Lebanese cedar with the use of selected local wood species. Its length is 43.5 meters and its width is 9 meters. The second boat was left in its place, preserved from further destruction. Later, three empty docks were also found, repeating the shape of a boat.

Construction of the pyramid complex

With the exception of a few internal chambers and corridors, the tomb of Cheops is built entirely of dense stone, mainly limestone. Its construction - unique phenomenon in the history of human civilization.

It is precisely oriented to the cardinal points. The deviation is only 3"43"! And modern builders could be proud of such precision.

Now the creation of Cheops contains 201 rows of stone blocks, but once there were from 215 to 220 rows. The height of the very first row is the largest - it is 1.5 meters, the second row is already smaller in height - 1.25 m, the third - 1.2 m, the fourth - 1.1 m. Further, the height of the rows is even less, as a rule, from 65 to 90 cm. Closer to the top the height of the blocks is reduced to 55 cm.

According to modern estimates (and the first person to do such calculations was Napoleon), about 2,300,000 (2 million 300 thousand) stone blocks and slabs were used for the great construction. The stone blocks necessary for construction were cut down both near the construction site and in the limestone cliffs rising on the eastern (opposite) bank of the Nile.

To clad the main object of the Cheops memorial, sandstone slabs were used, which were mined in quarries, also relatively close to limestone mining. The length of the cladding slabs in the lower rows reached 1.5 m and decreased to 75 cm in subsequent rows. According to estimates, about 115,500 slabs were required for the cladding.

Sand and limestone blocks were transported across the Nile on transport ships, and overland they were dragged on large wooden sleds and moved on stone rollers and balls. Granite, used in the construction and decoration of internal corridors and chambers, was also delivered along the Nile, but from afar - from the south, from the outskirts of present-day Aswan, located at a distance of about one thousand kilometers from the construction site.

To build such a colossus, ancient builders had to move and raise to a height a volume of stones that weighs approximately 6 (six) million tons. To transport such cargo today railway it would take 100 thousand railway platforms (such as a 4-axle platform for heavy-duty containers, model 13-470, with a lifting capacity of 60 tons), loaded to the maximum.

And yet, the most difficult and difficult work was not the delivery and transportation of stone blocks to the construction site, but their direct extraction in quarries by cutting down and further polishing to exact dimensions. At that time, they had not yet learned how to make iron and steel tools - the Iron Age was ahead. Egyptians in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. they didn’t even know bronze. They made their tools from almost pure copper, so the tools quickly became dull and became unusable. And, of course, copper was expensive. Judging by archaeological finds Therefore, stone tools made of flint were widely used: knife blades, drills, saw teeth, etc. That is, the stone was processed with stone, although it was harder than the one being processed.

The average volume of the blocks from which the tomb of Cheops is made is approximately equal to one cubic meter, weight - about 2.5 tons. But there were, as an exception, some blocks weighing 50 tons. For comparison, this is the weight of the modern T-90 Vladimir tank. It is impossible to lift and drag even the smallest of these blocks with your bare hands: this requires so many people that they simply cannot all fit together. Certain technical means were needed to lift and carry these blocks: all kinds of levers and rollers, goats and sleds, strong ropes and, of course, great amount people who had to pull these ropes, straining all their strength. But the unlimited power of Pharaoh Cheops, the resources that the ruler of Egypt had at his disposal - human and material - allowed him to attract tens of thousands of people to the construction of his own tomb at the same time.

How many years did it take to build the tomb of Cheops?

According to Herodotus, it took about twenty years to build. Modern research and calculations show that the ancient Greek thinker and historian named a very real figure for the duration of construction of the tallest stone structure in the world.

Who built it

We will leave fantastic hypotheses about mythical giants, aliens from outer space and even about the inhabitants of the mysterious Atlantis alone. Who built the pyramid of Cheops according to historical science? Somehow it happened that there is a fairly widespread opinion that it was built by slaves (this opinion usually extends to other pyramids in Egypt).

However, scientific data allows us to say quite confidently that these objects are largely the result of the labor of Egyptians, who were not slaves. Of course, they also cannot be called free in the full sense of the word - they were forced people, under the authority of dignitaries, priests and, of course, the pharaoh.

During the construction process there were cyclical periods associated with the annual flood of the Nile. At this time, thousands and thousands of peasants were involved in the construction, who performed unskilled work dragging and moving stone blocks.

Craftsmen who worked in quarries, stone carvers and polishers worked constantly, all year round. This was the work that they knew how to do, for which they received food, shelter, clothing, etc. Construction experience, skills and work techniques were passed on from generation to generation.

The total number of builders of such an important object for Cheops during the Nile flood period reached 100 thousand people. This figure was first cited by Herodotus, but modern calculations and archaeological finds show that it is quite plausible.

But in whose head was the architectural concept of such a thing born? grandiose building? Who was able to organize the work of thousands and thousands of people over several decades? From the depths of centuries the name of this great man has reached us. His name was Hemiun. He was a dignitary and vizier under Pharaoh Cheops.

His tomb is located near the western side of the tomb of Cheops himself. A statue of this architect has reached us, which was found in his tomb. It is interesting that both Hemiun and the other pyramid builders were, so to speak, part-time architects. Along with construction management, they performed a host of other duties. The profession of an architect in Ancient Egypt never acquired the status of an independent activity.

An example of construction excellence and creative genius

The ancient builders of both this and other pyramids took care of everything. For example, crypts located deep in masonry or underground had ventilation ducts. The interior of the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops was supplied with air through two small sections of the channel, which passed through the entire thickness of the structure, and went outside on the eighty-fifth layer of masonry on the southern and northern sides of this wonder of the world.

Although the first Europeans who explored the pyramids were faced with the fact that in the underground passages of the tomb of Cheops it was difficult to breathe due to the stale and suffocating air, this happened not because there was no ventilation, but because over the past almost five thousand years the ventilation passages clogged with dust and waste from bats and other living organisms - insects, bacteria, which found suitable conditions here. One of the still unsolved mysteries of the Cheops pyramid is that similar channels go from the queen’s chamber, but... they do not go outside (see diagram interior spaces up).

Protection from water was also carefully thought out. For facing masonry, the blocks were selected especially carefully. If necessary, the stone was additionally cut on site and then polished. Therefore, the stones were adjacent to each other so tightly that water simply could not get between them. All the water running down the lining was collected in the ditches below. The ditches are made with a slope towards the deeper ditches with which the ditches are connected. In this way, water was diverted away from the tombs and their foundations. Only about three of the most great pyramids About 300 such ditches and ditches for receiving rainwater were discovered in Giza.

For many centuries, the pyramid complexes of Giza have stood with damaged cladding due primarily to human vandalism rather than natural disasters. And one can only be amazed at the margin of safety that the ancient builders put into their creations.

The ritual-funeral memorial of Cheops has remained, in many ways, an unsurpassed example of “pyramid architecture” for the entire era of the construction of such objects.

In a word, it was not without reason that the Great Pyramid of Giza was recognized as one of the main wonders of the world back in ancient times. Without any technical supervision, the ancient Egyptians built their amazing creations in such a way that they still stand today, which cannot be said about many, many relatively modern structures, whose construction and engineering miscalculations and shortcomings led to death and destruction.