Friday Photo: Entrance to the Great Pyramid
Last week we saw a photograph taken from inside the tunnel that is used today to enter the pyramid.
This week we have an old photo of the original entrance.
The Original Entrance. Boston Public Library CC BY 2.0
This original entrance is not used to enter the pyramid by the thousands of tourists that visit the pyramid each day and is today sealed with a locked iron grate. Instead, the tunnel dug by Caliph Mamun is still used as a means of accessing the chambers inside the Great Pyramid.
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How claustrophobic inducing is it to enter these pyramids? What can a tourist see in there?
Hi Sue,
I didn’t find it claustrophobic but others have complained about the confined passages, they are only about a meter in height and require one to stoop the whole time while moving through them. There are three empty chambers inside the Great Pyramid, or Khufu’s pyramid though it is rare for all three to be accessible.
If Zahi Hawass is correct, the upper chamber, also known as the ‘King’s Chamber’ is not actually the real burial chamber. Instead, he suggest that the body of Khufu remains undisturbed in an undiscovered chamber somewhere beyond the ‘door’ in the Queen’s chamber southern shaft.
This is really an awesome one, and never saw it before.. great find!
i guess that pic maybe about 80-100 years ago..however..it is really charming photo.
I felt claustrophobic when I entered the pyramid of Unas in Saqqara.
When the time came to visit Khufu, my Egyptian guide grabbed me by the hand and pulled me quite fast through the narrow corridors.
I felt very comfortable at the Grand Gallery and the King’s Chamber.
Try to overcome your fears because this is an experience no one should miss.
I see this picture first time in my life.Amazing!
[...] Vincent’s Friday Photo series, you should be! Check out this classic (and classy) shot of the Entrance to the Great Pyramid, and this kind of eerie photo of the Serapeum at [...]
Hi Vincent,
For many years now, I’m always very pleased to surf on your website and blog…I trully appreciate the way you deal with Ancient Egypt.
In your reply above to Sue, your 2nd § is based on a BIG IF…If Zahi Hawass is correct…I would say, after 10 years working on this pyramid, that IF is not going to be confirmed:
1- The King Chamber “is” the funeral chamber where Khufu was buried
2- There is NO chamber between the “door” of the Queen’s Chamber Southern shaft and the face…just because this idea has absolutely nothing to do with the internal architecture of any IVth Dynsaty pyramid. Period…And more simply said: there are no place to hide such a room there…As simple as that…10 years of 3D computer drawings give me some legitimacy to say that.
For many years I tell people this: Understand first HOW Khufu’s pyramid was built, then you will understand WHAT has been built and WHY. Up to now, I just told about HOW…but I know WHAT since 2003…Big suprises are coming…WHY is stuck with WHAT…I think spring 2010 will be a very interesting season for…Egyptology…
All the best
Thanks for your comments Ann and Muhammed.
Ben, I think you may be confusing Teti and Unas, the pyramid of Unas has been closed for a long time now.
Jean-Pierre, thanks for your kind compliments on my blog. I like to add that comment by Hawass as it provokes thought and discussion on the topic. I don’t necessarily agree with all of Zahi’s ideas but that doesn’t stop me reporting them.
Having said that, the speculation of a chamber being found near the end of the Queen’s chamber southern shaft does have some credence. Another man who has spent a considerable amount of time annalysing CAD drawings of Khufu’s pyramid is Rudolf Gantanbrink. Gantenbrink has described a number of architectural features that indicate a chamber lies near the so-called ‘door’ that he found in 1993. While Hawass believes it is the burial chamber of Khufu that will be found there, Gantenbrink is confident that the burial chamber of Hetepheres, Khufu’s mother will be found near the ‘door’.
I’ll be discussing this and other evidence in more detail in an upcoming post on the topic.
Hi Vincent,
I’ve absolutely no problem regarding Dr Hawass articles, press releases and other stuff posted on his website and elsewhere. Everyone has the right to write and speak…And everyone has the right to reply if something appears to be…fancy, pure speculation or wrong. That’s what Democracy is about…Unfortunately, Democracy is not a worldwide…idea…You know what I mean…
My 2 cents there is nothing behind the “second doors”…Which are not doors but simple limestone blocks…This is already obvious when you look at the NatGeo video about the “small room” behind the first door in the southern shaft.
Dr Bob Brier went in a true L-shaped room (each branch of the L being 11 feet long, 5 feet wide and 8 feet high) which stands behind the vertical walls of the notch in the northeast edge of the pyramid. Nobody never mentionned this room (which was visited through ages, it is clearly obvious) in any Egyptological report about Khufu’s pyramid (since Bob visit, I got 3 short texts – 2 or 3 lines each – about this room written by visitors in 1759, 1817 and 1819); Bob went in because for 6 years I talked about the need to climb up and get a closer look at this notch. I didn’t even get the authorization to climb myself…In a 20mn visit, for a few bucks, the understanding about the construction of this pyramid did a giant leap towards conclusion. Wait a few more months and you will know a lot more…and that room is hundred times more important than two 22cm x 21cm x 14cm voids behind these “doors”…
I’ve a deep respect for Gantenbrinck work on the shafts and the whole pyramid; his drawings are very informative and I’m the first to refer to these in my work. Otherwise, I don’t buy Gantenbrinck’s idea of a supposed Hetepheres chamber in the vicinity, this for 2 reasons: 1- no place for such a room, 2- the idea of a Queen buried in a pyramid built for a King has no foundation in Ancient Egypt, even more under the IVth Dynasty.
Now, I would like to say this : Khufu’s pyramid deserves a better treatment than the one she gets right now…example: King’s Chamber preservation…The ventilation system is out of order since many years and the new dehumidifier is an heresy ! due to the heat made by the pump, people sweat more, generating more humidity…The cat bites its tail…
Khufu’s pyramid (and others) attracts miilions of visitors in Egypt every year…She deserves more than she gets right now…
Best
Hi Jean-Pierre,
I respect your opinion and am impressed by your theory and don’t mean to appear to be argumentative but I feel I must point out that there are in fact examples in Ancient Egypt of the Queen being buried in the King’s pyramid. One such example is the ‘Black’ pyramid of Amenemhet III. This pyramid, while it was built later than the Old Kingdom in the 12 Dynasty, does contain the bodies of both the King and Queen in separate chambers, each with separate external entrances. This pyramid also has Old Kingdom features such as the east-west layout of the pyramid enclosure.
The L-shaped room on the edge of Khufu’s pyramid that Bob Brier entered is indeed amazing. The arrangement of the ceiling stones being cut into arches to support the ceiling and the small gap through which it is entered is impressive evidence that this is a designed room and not simply a cavity resulting from fallen or robbed stones.
Isn’t this room itself direct evidence of a chamber being built close to the external face of Khufu’s pyramid and may therefore be viewed as support for Hawass & Gantenbrink’s claims that a chamber exists near the southern face of the pyramid?
I was not aware that the ventilation system was not working. That is no good. The pyramids need to be protected from tourists too.
Hi Vincent,
The burial of a Queen with a King was not the rule in Ancient Egypt…And like with any rule, you have exceptions which confirms the rule…I’m not an expert in egyptology so I can’t pretend to know everything about Egypt…I’m an architect working on pyramids, mostly about the construction techniques, although I’ve learnt a lot about Ancient Egypt. My knowledge in this field is depending on the research and writtings of egyptologists.
Otherwise, I’ve made my own opinion since, but it’s only my opinion.
And I’m always open minded and ready to learn more.
Bob visit in the room is interesting for 2 reasons:
1- The shape and position of this room within the pyramid fit exactly with the usefull space needed for the rotation of the sledges in the notch of my theory.
2- The microgravimetry survey carried in 1986 showed big voids in the edges exactly at right angle turns of the green spiral diagram drawn by the experts. I’d many occasions to speak with people from this survey and they are very clear: the green spiral shows lower
density, particularly in the edges (Bob’s room was, of course, detected too). So you have to think that around 20 rooms are hidden in the edges of the pyramid.
To the contrary to what Dr Hawass & Gantenbrinck’s claims, microgravimetry didn’t decteted anything under the faces of the pyramid in the vicinity of the shaft. Such a void should have been detected…For sure…because you are very close from the faces…
And I repeat myself…Since near one year now we are working on this room (simulation, virtualisation and re-construction) with my partners (Dassault Systèmes engineers). Let me tell you that what will be disclosed next year won’t be based on…If, may be, tricks
or other stuff like that…but true reverse engineering.
We are in the 21 century and we have at disposal new tools like 3D virtualisation and non-destructives technology. Thanks to these new tools, egyptology and archaeology are entering a new world: diggings will only be part of the research and more and more the
result of studies upstream…
I invite you to go to the link joint…It’s all about DNA… Egyptian DNA 45 centuries later…INSIDE-OUT…still alive…(sorry, the text is in french). These videos were filmed by my wife in Cairo (El-Ghomoria street near Ramses railways Station)
And I have more proof about DNA…
http://pyramidales.blogspot.com/2009/09/construction-facon-pyramides.html
(unfortunately in french but the video speaks for itself…)
All the best
Jean-Pierre
Hi Vincent,
You have now, with Bulle Plexiglass video, a strange evidence of an Egyptian know-how which comes from somewhere: building pyramids in Ancient Egypt…Human D.N.A.
I would like to send you another proof of this D.N.A.
Could you send me an e-mail address where I could send you this other “strange evidence”…and evidence Egyptologists should have look at since, at least…December 1944…65 years ago…
I could paraphrase this famous sentence : “It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?” by “We are 65 years after. Do you know what our egyptologists have done about since?”
No offense there…regarding egyptologists…just noticing…
Sometimes, coming with another background (architecture) gives a different approach to a problem to those who are interested in trying to resolve this problem.
INSIDE-OUT…
Some people should take time to think about
Jean-Pierre
Vincent & Jean-Pierre,
Excellent conversation! This is what blogging is about!
As for my meager offering to the conversation, I will limit myself here to addressing the question about claustrophobia. In the Great Pyramid (Khufu’s pyramid), the descending and ascending passageways can be pretty confining, but before you know it you will be out into the Grand Gallery, which is anything but constricting.
The same with the Pyramid of Teti.. But once you are looking at the pyramid texts, the brilliant ceiling and wall paintings, you will be so lost in time that you will forget about your phobias. It is one thing to study these subjects in books and see them on TV, and even to see them in museums or see the site from a distance.
But actually being inside such a place, surrounded 360 degrees, above, below, actually in the space. You will experience literally an altered state of consciousness. I’m not talking LSD here, obviously, but if you really slow down enough to think about where you are and the history behind it, it can be a life changing moment.
Ok, enough of my new age-y rambling. If you are going to visit Khufu’s Pyramid be sure to read Jean-Pierre and Bob Brier’s book, The Secret of the Great Pyramid, so you will know what to look for while inside! That too will change your experience.
Hi Jean-Pierre,
Thank you for your comments and the link to the video on Marc’s blog. Very interesting. It does make you think “why”.
You have me very intrigued now about this other “strange evidence”. Please send to this email address:
vincent@pyramidtextsonline.com
Thanks again.
Vincent Brown.
Hi Keith,
I know what you mean. After studying many diagrams in books I remember being surprised when I entered the pyramid by the roughness and all the wear and tear of the stones. It is to be expected of course considering the four and a half thousand years or so and the thousands of visitors that have poured through there. No amount of pictures and video can compare with the experience of being there. Where Mamun’s tunnel ends and the actual passages of Khufu’s pyramid begin is like entering a machine.
The cramped and confined conditions of the ascending and descending passages make it clear to the visitor that they were not designed for casual access to the burial chamber.
Since the last 6 months I have been going through all the materials provided by jeane peirre through his CD, book and the website. I feel jean peirre deserves world recognition and needs to be awarded by the UN for his outstanding contribution towards breaking the puzzle on the construction of pyramid. Every 2nd day I am searching the net for the latest on the progress towards test confirming the internal ramp and the 2 hidden chambers.
I am dissapointed that the egyptian authorities have not yet given the permission for the same. If the claims of jean peirre comes true, I will term this as the most memorable discovery of my lifetime.