A story about the construction of the Cheops pyramid. Pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops. History of the Egyptian pyramids. When was the Cheops pyramid built?

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 great pyramid of giza built, 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 accumulates as a result archaeological excavations, analysis of found artifacts, 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 fans of the history of Ancient Egypt, two large groups can be distinguished - 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 Cheops pyramid. 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. They think much cooler are the theories of the creation of ancient megastructures by aliens or, for example, some mysterious civilization, who lived long before the times of the Egyptian pharaohs, possessed technical capabilities that were 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 unscientific 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 tallest pyramid, according to Herodotus, a 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 all the pyramids of the 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 Large gallery.

The entrance is located on its northern side, at a height of 16 meters above the ground. When the first scientists and researchers of Egyptian antiquities - the French - measured the height, they got 12 meters - the base of the pyramid is late XIX century was heavily covered with sand. 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 using 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 is a 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 smaller, 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 grinding to precise sizes. 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, a huge number of 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 design of such a grandiose structure born? 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 bats and other living organisms - insects, bacteria that have 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 of the interior above).

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.

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 tallest structure for many millennia. Khufu (another name for the pyramid) is located in Giza - the popular place crowds of tourists.

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 afterworld and further life after death. It was believed that only a few were worthy of continuing the path of life 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.

To ensure that the pharaoh did not need anything in the 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.

Very often in the photo of the Cheops pyramid you can see two more pyramids standing nearby. These are the famous pyramids of 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 pyramids of Cheops, you can see the relief of the facade and its unevenness, formed over millennia.

Birth of the Cheops Pyramid

According to the official version, the Pyramid of Cheops was built 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. Construction 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. First of all, it was built big road for the delivery of building materials, then underground passages and a mine. Most of the 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 itself 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 lay in the fact that in those dark times there were no special machines or devices 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 with water, 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 the 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 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. The assembled boat can be admired in the museum today weird shape. 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!

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Books

• Pyramid of Secrets
• Pyramid of Secrets, Alan Alford. The Pyramid of Cheops has been the subject of endless debate for hundreds of years on three main questions: who built it, how and why. A book by the famous English writer Alan Alford...

History of the construction of the Cheops pyramid

The construction of the pyramid began around 2560 BC. The architect was Hemion, the nephew of Pharaoh Cheops, who managed all the construction projects of the Old Kingdom at that time. The construction of the Cheops pyramid took at least 20 years, and, according to various estimates, more than one hundred thousand people were involved. The project required a herculean effort: workers extracted blocks for construction elsewhere, in the rocks, delivered them along the river and lifted them along an inclined plane to the top of the pyramid on wooden sleds. To build the Cheops pyramid, more than 2.5 million granite and limestone blocks were needed, and at the very top a gilded stone was installed, which gave the entire cladding the color of the sun's rays. But in the 2nd century, when the Arabs destroyed Cairo, local residents dismantled the entire cladding of the pyramid to build their houses.

For almost three millennia, the Cheops pyramid occupied the first place on Earth in height, giving the palm only in 1300 to Lincoln Cathedral. Now the height of the pyramid is 138 m, it has decreased by 8 m compared to the original one, and the base area is more than 5 hectares.

The Pyramid of Cheops is revered local residents as a shrine, and every year on August 23, the Egyptians celebrate the day of the beginning of its construction. No one knows why August was chosen, because there are no historical facts No evidence has been found to confirm this.

The structure of the Cheops pyramid

Inside the Cheops pyramid, the three burial chambers, which are located one above the other along a strict vertical, are of greatest interest. The lowest one remained unfinished, the second belongs to the pharaoh’s wife, and the third belongs to Cheops himself.

To travel along the corridors, for the convenience of tourists, paths with steps were laid, railings were made and lighting was installed.

Cross section of the Cheops pyramid

1. Main entrance
2. The entrance made by al-Mamun
3. Crossroads, “traffic jam” and the al-Mamun tunnel made “bypass”
4. Descending corridor
5. Unfinished underground chamber
6. Rising corridor

7. “Queen’s chamber” with outgoing “air ducts”
8. Horizontal tunnel

10. Pharaoh's chamber with “air ducts”
11. Prechamber
12. Grotto

Entrance to the pyramid

The entrance to the Cheops pyramid is an arch formed from stone slabs, and is located on the north side, at a height of 15 m 63 cm. Previously, it was laid with a granite plug, but it has not survived to this day. In 820, Caliph Abdullah al-Mamun decided to find treasure in the pyramid and made a seventeen-meter gap below historical entrance by 10 meters. The Baghdad ruler found nothing, but today tourists enter the pyramid through this tunnel.

When al-Mamun made his passage, a fallen block of limestone blocked the entrance to another corridor - an ascending one, and behind the limestone there were three more granite plugs. Since a vertical tunnel was discovered at the junction of two corridors, descending and ascending, it was assumed that granite plugs were lowered down through it in order to seal the tomb after the funeral of the Egyptian king.

Funeral "pit"

The descending corridor, which is 105 meters long, descends underground at an inclination of 26° 26’46 and abuts another corridor 8.9 m long, leading to chamber 5 and located horizontally. There is an unfinished chamber measuring 14 x 8.1 m, running east to west in shape. For a long time it was believed that there were no other rooms in the pyramid except this corridor and chamber, but it turned out differently. The height of the chamber reaches 3.5 m. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which a narrow manhole (0.7 × 0.7 m in cross-section) stretches southward for 16 m, ending in a dead end.

At the beginning of the 19th century, engineers John Shae Perring and Richard William Howard Vyse dismantled the floor of the chamber and dug a well 11.6 m deep, in which they hoped to discover a hidden burial chamber. They were based on the testimony of Herodotus, who claimed that the body of Cheops was on an island surrounded by a canal in a hidden underground chamber. Their excavations came to nothing. Later studies showed that the chamber was abandoned unfinished, and it was decided to build the burial chambers in the center of the pyramid itself.

Ascending Corridor and Queen's Chambers

From the first third of the descending passage (18 m from the main entrance), an ascending passage (6) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery (9), goes up at the same angle of 26.5° to the south.

At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite “plugs”, which from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell out during the work of al-Mamun. It turned out that for almost 3 thousand years scientists were sure that there were no rooms in the Great Pyramid other than the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Ma'mun was unable to break through these plugs and simply carved out a bypass to the right of them in the softer limestone.

In the middle of the ascending passage, the design of the walls has a peculiarity: in three places the so-called “frame stones” are installed - that is, the passage, square along its entire length, pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown.

A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southerly direction. It is traditionally 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, lined with limestone, measures 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. There is a high niche in the eastern wall of the chamber.

Grotto, Grand Gallery and Pharaoh's Chambers

Another branch from the lower part of the Great Gallery is a narrow, almost vertical shaft about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended to evacuate workers or priests who were completing the “sealing” of the main passage to the “King’s Chamber.” Approximately in the middle of it there is a small, most likely natural expansion - a “Grotto” of irregular shape, in which several people could fit at most. The grotto (12) is located at the “junction” of the masonry of the pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on the limestone plateau lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially reinforced by ancient masonry, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, taking into account the fact that the shaft was hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular cross-section, the question arises of how the builders managed to accurately reach the Grotto.

The large gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is rectangular in cross-section, with walls slightly tapering upward (“false vault”), a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. In the middle of the Great Gallery, along almost the entire length, there is a square recess with a regular cross-section, 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of recesses of unknown purpose. The recess ends with the “Big Step” - a high horizontal ledge, a platform of 1x2 meters, at the end of the Great Gallery, immediately before the hole into the “hallway” - the Antechamber. The platform has a pair of ramp recesses similar to those in the corners near the wall. Through the “hallway” a hole leads into the burial “Tsar’s Chamber” lined with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is located.

Above the “Tsar’s Chamber” are discovered in the 19th century. five unloading cavities with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable ceiling. Their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) in order to protect the “King’s Chamber” from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was found, probably left by workers.

A network of ventilation ducts leads from the cells to the north and south. The channels from the Queen's Chamber do not reach the surface of the pyramid by 12 meters, and the channels from the Pharaoh's Chamber reach the surface. Such branches have not been found in any other pyramid. Scientists have not reached a unanimous opinion whether they were built for ventilation or have anything to do with Egyptian ideas about the afterlife. At the upper ends of the channels there are doors, most likely symbolizing the entrance to another world. In addition, the channels point to the stars: Sirius, Tuban, Alnitak, which makes it possible to assume that the Cheops pyramid also had an astronomical purpose.

Surroundings of the Cheops Pyramid

At the eastern edge of the Cheops pyramid there are 3 small pyramids of his wives and family members. They are located from north to south, according to size: the base side of each building is 0.5 meters smaller than the previous one. They are well preserved inside; time has partially destroyed only the outer cladding. Nearby you can see the foundation of the mortuary temple of Khufu, inside of which were found drawings depicting a ritual performed by the pharaoh, it was called the Unification of the Two Lands.

Pharaoh's boats

The Pyramid of Cheops is the central figure of a complex of buildings, the location of which had ritual significance. The procession with the late pharaoh was transported along the Nile to the west bank on numerous boats. In the lower temple, to which the boats sailed, the first part of the funeral ceremony began. Next, the procession headed to the upper temple, where the prayer house and altar were located. To the west of the upper temple was the pyramid itself.

On each side of the pyramid, boats were walled up in rocky recesses, on which the pharaoh was supposed to travel through the afterlife.

In 1954, archaeologist Zaki Noor discovered the first boat, called the Solar Boat. It was made of Lebanese cedar, consisted of 1224 parts, and had no traces of fastening or joining. Its dimensions are: length 43 m and width 5.5 m. It took 16 years to restore the boat.

On the southern side of the Cheops pyramid there is a museum of this boat.

The second boat was found in a mine located east of where the first boat was found. A camera was lowered into the shaft, which showed traces of insects on the boat, so it was decided not to raise it and to seal the shaft. This decision was made by scientist Yoshimuro from Waseda University.

In total, seven pits were discovered with real ancient Egyptian boats, dismantled into parts.

Video: 5 Unsolved Mysteries of the Pyramids of Egypt

How to get there

If you want to see the Great Pyramid of Cheops, you need to come to Cairo. But there are practically no direct flights from Russia and you will have to make a transfer in Europe. Without a transfer, you can fly to Sharm el-Sheikh, and from there travel 500 kilometers to Cairo. You can get to your destination by comfortable bus, the travel time is approximately 6 hours, or you can continue the journey by plane, they fly to Cairo every half hour. In Egypt they are very loyal to Russian tourists; you can get a visa right at the airport after landing. It will cost $25 and is issued for a month.

Where to stay

If your goal is ancient treasures and you come to the pyramids, then you can choose a hotel in Giza or in the center of Cairo. There are almost two hundred comfortable hotels with all the benefits of civilization. In addition, Cairo has many attractions; it is a city of contrasts: modern skyscrapers and ancient minarets, noisy colorful bazaars and nightclubs, neon nights and quiet palm gardens.

Reminder for tourists

Don't forget that Egypt is a Muslim state. Men should simply ignore Egyptian women, because even an innocent touch can be considered harassment. Women must follow dress codes. Modesty and once again modesty, a minimum of bare areas of the body.

On organized excursions Tickets to the pyramids can be purchased at any hotel.

The pyramid area is open to the public in summer from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in winter it is open half an hour less; the entrance ticket costs approximately 8 euros.

Museums are paid separately: you can see the Solar Boats for 5 euros.

To enter the Pyramid of Cheops you will be charged 13 euros; visiting the Pyramid of Chefre will cost less - 2.6 euros. There is a very low passage here and be prepared for the fact that you will have to walk 100 meters in a half-bent position.

Other pyramids, for example, the wife and mother of Khafre, can be viewed for free by presenting admission ticket to the zone.

The best time to view them is in the morning, immediately after opening. It is strictly forbidden to climb the pyramids, break off a piece as a souvenir and write “I was here...”. You can pay a fine for this that will exceed the cost of your trip.

If you want to take a photo of yourself against the backdrop of the pyramids or just the surrounding area, prepare 1 euro for the right to take photographs; photography is prohibited inside the pyramids. If you are offered to take a photo of you, do not agree and do not give the camera to anyone, otherwise you will have to buy it back.

Tickets to visit the pyramids are limited: 150 tickets are sold at 8 a.m. and the same number at 1 p.m. There are two ticket offices: one at the main entrance, the second at the Sphinx.

Each of the pyramids is closed once a year for restoration work, so you are unlikely to see everything at once.

If you don't want to walk throughout the Giza area, you can rent a camel. Its cost will depend on your bargaining ability. But keep in mind that they won’t tell you all the prices right away, and when you ride around, it turns out that you have to pay to get off the camel.

Tricky tip: The toilet is located in the Solar Boat Museum.

On the territory of the pyramid zone there are cafeterias where you can have a good lunch.

Every evening there is a light and sound show lasting one hour. It is held in different languages: Arabic, English, Japanese, Spanish, French. On Sundays the show is performed in Russian. It is recommended to separate your visit to the pyramids and the show over two days, otherwise you will not be able to fit in as many impressions.

Every year, articles appear in the press revealing the secrets of the Great Pyramid. However, every time new questions arise to which scientists have no answer. Now everyone is hearing a new hypothesis, which, if not completely revealing, then comes close to this mystery.

The Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) took 20 years to build

It is known that the pyramid of Cheops (Khufu) was built over a period of 20 years. Basically, about 14 thousand people took part in its construction. However, at some stages up to 40 thousand took part in the construction.

Of course, experts have a very definite idea of ​​how the Great Pyramids were built. However, scientific minds do not want to stop there. In their opinion, the simplest versions are not able to explain how the masterpiece was built ancient architecture in reality: he makes too much of an impression.

Thus, the French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin offers his own version of the construction technique. In 2006, he proposed an original hypothesis: the upper part of the pyramid (which is about 70% of the height) was built by the ancient Egyptians from the inside.

To understand why this hypothesis is relevant today, you should first make small excursion into history.

In recent years, so many versions have appeared that even simply listing them would take a lot of time. Of course, aliens with their anti-gravity technology occupy a special place. However, even in the 26th century BC there were many opportunities.

The most likely scheme is also the simplest. According to one hypothesis, workers dragged blocks of limestone using ropes and blocks along long embankments to the top. As an option, there is a spiral stone “path” laid out on the walls of the pyramid itself, along which the stones were delivered to the top. This scheme is characterized by a huge volume of earthworks.

Variant of the construction technique of the French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin

In both cases, quite a lot of wooden levers with ropes were used - lifting mechanisms, with the help of which the Egyptians installed multi-ton blocks in the right place and lifted them from tier to tier.

You can also find a description of these simple devices in Herodotus. True, he believed that the Egyptians used “cranes”, lifting blocks from level to level one by one. However, most Egyptologists believe that during construction they combined ramps with levers.

However, there are a number of alternative versions

It is possible that the pyramid was made of concrete (scientific experiments have proven that the ancients knew how to make it). Therefore, there was simply no problem with how to lift the stone. Unfortunately, this version does not take into account the granite monoliths located in the pyramid, many of which are incomparably heavier in weight than the limestone ones.

There was a hypothesis that the stone blocks were raised using wooden gateways, which were built on the growing walls. In addition, many of the described methods were built based on the “basic” laws of physics and mechanics.

However, weaknesses can be found in all hypotheses. For example, the construction of a straight embankment requires work comparable to the construction of the pyramid itself, and the length of such an ascent must exceed one and a half kilometers (at the end of construction), and it must also be based on stone blocks.

During the construction of the Cheops pyramid, ancient Egyptian engineers used a system of internal ramps and tunnels to construct the upper part of this structure...

According to Egyptologist Bob Brier, it's like building two pyramids. Moreover, the remains of such a ramp have not been found anywhere. Brier, by the way, is familiar to us from the recent discovery of construction defects in the Cheops pyramid.

Some traces of former ramps in the vicinity of the pyramid have long been discovered. But, according to calculations, they cannot be fully responsible for the construction of this grandiose monument. That is why “official” Egyptologists are inclined to the mentioned scheme of the combined use of ramps and lifting mechanisms built of wood.

As Bob explains, the spiral road running along the outer walls could hide during construction the corners and edges of the structure itself, constant measurements of which were necessary - without this, it would not have been possible to achieve the accuracy of proportions and lines of the Great Pyramid, which still delights architects today. Consequently, "geodetic survey" would be impossible.

However, Jean-Pierre paints a different picture

The lower third of the pyramid, which contains most of its mass, was erected using the already discussed external ramp method, which, given the height of the structure, was not yet too bulky. But then the tactics were radically changed.

Houdin believes that the limestone blocks that formed the ramp for the lower third of the Cheops Pyramid were largely dismantled and reused to build the upper levels of the pyramid itself. Therefore, no traces of the original ramp have been found anywhere.

Construction of the Cheops pyramid

In addition, during the construction of new tiers, workers left a large corridor inside the walls, which spiraled upward. Along this corridor, new blocks were raised to the top of the structure. After the work was completed, the tunnel itself was completely hidden from view. Therefore, the road did not even have to be dismantled.

Houdin argues that the paradigm of conventional hypotheses was flawed. The pyramid could not have been built from the outside.

Using computer simulations last year, Houdin visualized his method of building a pyramid and proved that it works. It is interesting that indirect evidence of Jean-Pierre’s correctness was also found in Egypt, directly in the most ancient monument.

At approximately 90 meters in height on the northeastern edge of the Khufu pyramid, near the corner, there is a hole discovered by archaeologists an umpteenth time ago. Of course, Egyptologists are well aware of it, but they cannot say anything specific about the purpose of the room located behind the hole.

Recently, Bob Brier, who has become a proponent of Houdin's hypothesis, climbed inside this hole with a National Geographic team (for the first time, taking detailed photographs). What he saw surprisingly fit into the pattern with an internal inclined corridor.

The fact is that in order to rotate the lifted blocks by 90 degrees, when moving from one side of the pyramid to another, the builders had to leave open spaces in the corners of the structure - where the secret ramps intersected.

Only after the construction of the pharaoh's tomb was completed would it be possible to sequentially fill these openings with new blocks drawn along the same corkscrew-shaped corridor.

The corner sections of the spiral corridor, which were open until the last moment, allowed workers, using simple levers and ropes, to turn the blocks raised along the slope 90 degrees in order to push them into the next tunnel. It's like a train depot with a turntable that helps diesel locomotives turn around in cramped conditions to go in a new direction.

The corner sections of the spiral corridor, which were open until the last moment, allowed workers to turn the blocks being lifted 90 degrees using simple levers and ropes.

Brier saw behind the hole an L-shaped hall - the remnant of one such turn. It is located in the very place that Houdin's computer model predicted.

There should be two walled portals located at an angle of 90 degrees to one another. Behind them could well be those same tunnels, running not so deep under the surface of the walls. According to the French architect, the secret of the entire structure is kept in the massive blocks that sealed the tunnels thousands of years ago.

However, for quite a long time this emptiness in the corner remained unnoticed. The fact is that the meaning of the building can only be figured out if you have it in your head. overall plan. If you simply climbed into this room without thinking about internal ramps and recesses, it will mean nothing to you.

This angular twist may well be the missing link in the Great Pyramid puzzle. Moreover, there is another trace in this story.

French archaeologists visited Giza in 1986 and 1998. They searched for hidden cavities in the Cheops pyramid using microgravimetry. Among other things, the researchers found a void under the queen’s chamber. This cavity, according to them, is the beginning of a corridor leading to the true burial place of Cheops. But we in this case Another involuntary discovery of theirs is interesting.

This find did not fit into existing theories, so the researchers did not explain it in any way. But a few years ago, at a certain conference dedicated to the pyramids, Houdin approached one of the members of the “gravimetricians” team, engineer Hui Don Bui. He showed him diagrams showing fluctuations in the density of the material inside the pyramid. One of the drawings showed a spiral-shaped structure running along the outer walls at some depth. Jean-Pierre immediately understood what it was.

According to Bob Brier, if he had not seen that diagram, he would have thought that construction using a twisted tunnel was just another theory. The information obtained by the French forced him to support Houdin's hypothesis.

And to find new hard evidence, says Jean-Pierre, you don’t need to drill into the pyramid or even get inside. To begin with, it will be enough to show these “phantom” corridors in thermal images of the pyramid.