If the Great Pyramid were to be broken into 30 cm thick slabs, a one metre high wall could be built around France.
Some have said that the pyramids were more than gigantic sepulchres; they could also have been granaries or treasure houses.
All the pyramids were probably looted a few centuries after they were built; the only tombs that escaped spoil were those built on the rock outside the pyramids, such as that of Tutankamon and Queen Hetepheres I.
The Egyptians apart from mummifying the pharaohs, also did so with their pets, and buried them with their masters inside the pyramids.
The weight of the Great Pyramid is approximately 5,400,000 tons. The largest known stone is found in the pyramid of Micerino, which weighs about 285 tons - 200 to 250 cars.
The Great Pyramid was built by the Pharaoh Jufu of the Fourth Dynasty.
The Great Pyramid is Egypt's biggest tourist attraction.
It is the only one of the seven ancient wonders still standing.
The Greek Herodotus wrote that it took the Egyptians 20 years to build the Great Pyramid.
Herodotus also mentions that another 10 years, before the construction of the pyramid, was used to prepare the ground and build the underground chambers.
These are the names of the three main pyramids in Egypt:
- Pyramid of Jufu (Keops), or Great Pyramid in Giza
- Pyramid of Jafra (Kefren) in Giza
- Pyramid of Menkaura (Micerino) in Giza
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