About the pyramids and Giza
Giza is a city in Egypt, located on the west bank of the Nile. It is the third largest city in the country after the Cairo and Alexandria, the metropolis that borders directly with Cairo, the administrative center of Giza.
Giza is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Near the town are some of the most startling and most impressive monuments of ancient Egyptian civilization: the great pyramids of Egyptian pharaohs Cheops, and Hefren Mikerin, Great Sphinx of Giza, and many other pyramids, temples and museums.
Pyramids of Giza are the most attractive tourist attraction in the world. Millions of tourists visit Egypt to see the only survived of the Seven Wonders of the World. Pyramids are recognized by the World Tourist organization, a kind of Oscars for the tourism industry. Each year millions of tourists arrive in Cairo to see the one of the Seven Wonders of the World – Great pyramid and the pyramids and Hefren Mikerin located in the plateau of Giza.
It is believed that these pyramids were built before more than 4500 years and served on the Egyptian tombs pharaohs. However, the researchers disagree on their exact age and purpose. In the scientific world is constantly emerge and new hypotheses the manner in which they were built massive pyramids.
The pyramids are one of the most imposing buildings survived until today. With its 481 feet (146.59 meters), the Great Pyramid was the tallest building in the world until the 19th century. Moreover, only one of the Seven Wonders of the World that we can still sees with our eyes. Great Pyramid is losing some of its peak and is only 449 feet high (137 meters) today. The initial length of the side of the pyramid was 754 feet (230.33 meters) and is now 745 feet (227 meters). Ploshttta based is 13 acres, ie 568.500 square feet (52,843 sq m). According to official estimates the Great pyramid of Giza was built of stone blocks 2.300.000 with an average weight of 2,5 pt This means that the pyramid weighs approximately 5.750.000 tons! In the construction will block more light than 2 tons, and the worst blocks weigh 70 tons. The Arabs remove almost the entire exterior of polished limestone before 600 years to be used in the construction of mosques and other buildings in cities. This gives rough pyramids, tiered look. The only original entrance is on the north side and 16 meters high. Only inside the pyramid of Cheops is also burial chambers and four wells (see gallery). The two shafts, starting from the burial chamber of Pharaoh were found in the 1610, and those beginning in the chamber of the queen – in 1872.
Pyramids of Giza construction
Historians are not quite firm, but assumes that the pyramid of Cheops was completed in BC 2589. However, its construction continued 20 years. In recent years, there were excavations of settlement and cemetery this period near the pyramids. Inscriptions found in them, clearly show that people who built the pyramids were not slaves, but artisans and peasants. Most of the stone blocks that were needed to build the pyramids were logging directly from the plateau. This is saving the hard work of transporting the blocks from other quarries along the Nile. To build the pyramids were needed 40.000 people. We have to note that the Egyptians did not know then wheel and all work is done without any machinery.
Great pyramids of Giza are tombs of the pharaohs of the fourth dynasty Hefra (gr-Hefren), Khufu (Cheops-town) and Menkaura (gr-Mikerin). Smaller pyramids were designed for the wives of the pharaohs. These facts are confirmed by the history of Herodotus, who visited the Giza in 450 BC and found inscriptions in the burial chamber of Cheops pyramid.