Great Pyramid of 
Khufu (Cheops) is the oldest pyramid in Giza and the largest in Egypt, stood 146m high when it was completed around 2570 BC. After 46 windy centuries, its height has been reduced by 9m. About 2.3 million limestone blocks, reckoned to weigh about 2.5 tonnes each, were used in the construction. On the eastern side of the pyramid, three small structures some 20m high resemble pyramid-shaped piles of rubble. These are the Queens’ Pyramids, the tombs of khufu’s wives and sisters.
In classical antiquity it was considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and is the only one to have survived. In the course of the millennia it lost its pointed top and its entire casing. It has suffered attempted entry through use of explosives and has been subjected to various perforations in the hope of discovering hitherto undetected chambers. More scientific methods are being applied in modern times to that same end. The granite lined burial chamber is situated near the center of the stone mass of the pyramid, and can be attained by means of the ascending Grand Gallery, 11 meters high. Two additional rooms, one of which was hewn in the rock deep beneath the pyramid, were intended for the king's burial but were abandoned as the plan was altered twice in the course of construction. The king's burial chamber still contains Khufu's polished granite sarcophagus. It is plain, rectangular and uninscribed. Its lid was never found, nor was any other burial equipment.
The builders of the pyramid took considerable measures to prevent entry after the burial. Two enormous granite blocks completely seal the ascending passage leading to the Grand Gallery. In fact, the robbers who painstakingly burrowed their own way into the structure of the pyramid, had to bypass those blocks to obtain access to the Grand Gallery. It is through this robbers' opening that visitors are nowadays led into the pyramid, while the original entry, higher up, is currently sealed, since it can only lead, through a long, descending passage, to the originally planned underground burial chamber which was never completed.
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