The Great Pyramid
Image Source: Reddit
Of the Great Pyramids, there are three main structures that are some of the most popular tourist destinations in this world. Khufu's pyramid or 'The Great Pyramid' is the largest and reigns as the crown jewel of Giza; the image above shows the sheer size of the building which is crazy when you consider that it was built thousands and thousands of years ago! How did they do that?
Pyramid Of Khafre
Image Source: Reddit
The Khafre's Pyramid sits beside the Great Pyramid and also gazes over the sands of Giza. It's perhaps most well known for being the pyramid that overlook the sphinx and honours the memory of Khafre. Like all of the other pyramids in the country, this is a crazy way to realise how mental that the size of the pyramids are when it comes to the period of time they were built.
Pyramid Of Menkaure
Image Source: Reddit
Just like the others, Menkaure's pyramid is a glorious piece of insight into the ancient history of the country of Egypt and it helps tower over the sands. Each individual block as part of the building is a miraculous look into the craftsmanship that went into the building. You'd be crazy if you never chose to set foot in one of these pyramids or at least around them.
Secret Corridor
Image Source: Reddit
In the last year, using some amazing technology, this hidden corridor behind the entrance chevrons to the great pyramid was finally found! Considering no one knew this was there, you can potentially imagine that we are putting our eyes on to something that hadn't been seen by humans in perhaps nearly 4,500 years. There's no way to prove that, but it is crazy!
Great Pyramid Entrance
Image Source: TripZilla
If you ever decided to pay a visit to the Great Pyramid, this is what you'd be greeted by upon your walk through the entrance. It seems a little underwhelming doesn't it? But you have to imagine that the workers building this great structure would have been underhanded when it comes to tools that we know and use to this day (unless you want to believe the conspiracies). Tourists now enter through the 'robbers' tunnel!
The Robbers Tunnel
Image Source: Reddit
The original entrance to the Great Pyramid isn't actually available for use anymore, now being blocked off by some larger rocks to avoid people entering at certain times! Instead, if you plan to visit the internal chambers of the pyramid you have to enter through this quite small crack in the wall. This is known as the robbers' tunnel, named after those who broke in to steal the various treasures.
Limestone Stairs
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As of this current period in time, the only thing you can really visit within the Great Pyramid is that of the King's Chamber, so you are forced to begin climbing up the structure, very slowly! You have no choice but to take these quite difficult and tight looking steps that are carved into limestone within the pyramid. Your steps will always be echoing through the building!
Tight Passage
Image Source: Reddit
The path through to the King's Chamber can be quite an arduous journey and might take you just a little while, mainly thanks to the difficulty you might find in crawling and squeezing through the tunnels. If you're someone who struggles with claustrophobia you might want to avoid putting yourself through the pain of these 1m high ceilings and turn around now!
The Grand Gallery
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As you can probably imagine, the inside of the Pyramids of Giza can be quite dark and narrow, never mind how tight the air inside the building can be too. This stairway above, known as The Grand Gallery is completely made from planks of wood and wooden handrails and goes up quite high. This staircase actually leads all the way through to the King's Chamber. You'll be sweating by the time you're out!
King's Chamber Entrance
Image Source: Reddit
When you finally reach the top of the grand gallery stairs you'll have reached the whole goal of your journey, The King's Chamber, but not before you have to get on your knees for one final crawl! This tiny little passage is the only entrance in to the chamber and you'll be feeling very Indiana Jones as you peek round the final corner in the chamber of the former (and very ancient) Pharaoh.
The Queen's Chamber
Image Source: Egypt.Hutchins
Not only is there a chamber dedicated to the king within the Great Pyramid, but there is also a Queen's Chamber too. Some people believe that this chamber was actually dedicated to someone else instead though. These days, there is a modern ventilator, used to ensure that visitors don't suffer from overheating within the chambers that can get extremely hot down there.
The King's Chamber
Image Source: TripZilla
This room is supposed to be one of the most popular places inside the Great Pyramid and that is because it once held the Pharaoh, Khufu. This room was perfectly designed to be in the centre of the pyramid, supposedly as a way to ensure that it held the most powerful energies that it could. Do you believe that some authentic and spiritual energy could be found here?
Air Shaft
Image Source: TripZilla
Within the King's chamber, you might also be surprised to see this strange looking shaft within the room. It opens up through the north wall and is completely open through to the open air! It's supposedly meant to be in place as a way for the spirit of the Pharoah within to be able to ascend to the starts after they were mummified and then buried.
The Chamber Again
Image Source: Reddit
What might take you by surprise is that the King's chamber room is actually incredibly empty! There are many suspicions for this and the most common one would be that the treasures left in the room had been stolen by robbers in the many thousands of years since the room was initially sealed. Instead, all you'll see now are some lights in the corners of the room.
Subterranean Chamber
Image Source: The Archaeologist
Within the Great Pyramid there is also a now hidden to the public chamber known as the Subterranean chamber. This was actually unfinished and there is still no known purpose for the chamber to have been built. There is limited oxygen available in the room. Some people believe this was meant to be the original resting place but we'll probably never know.
Menkaure Passage
Image Source: Michal Huniewicz
Just like within the Great Pyramid, Menkaure's Pyramid has a number of tight and dingy passages that make it quite difficult to transverse through the structure. This passage that you see above shows how you have to almost crawl through the pyramid just so that you don't bash your head! You wouldn't be wanting to try and escape any mummies through here would you?
The Sarcophagus
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You might have travelled a long way to get to the King's Chamber and all you'll really be getting to see is this quite terrifying image of an empty and pitch black sarcophagus! It's believed that at some point in the thousands of years since the structure was created that the body and anything within the sarcophagus had been stolen. It's quite a sad sight to have to witness actually.
More Passages
Image Source: TripZilla
Not only do these passages within the Menkaure's pyramid look difficult and dingy to travel though, you can also see that they seem to go on and on for absolutely ages! Fortunately, these days, there are some lights throughout them so you probably won't ever get lost, but you can imagine how hard it would have been back in the day when it was torches or nothing!
Entrance To Khafre's
Image Source: Walk My World
Weirdly, instead of actually climbing as you enter the Khafre Pyramid you actually begin heading downwards as you enter the building and that's because the first chamber is below ground level. You have to follow this empty wooden ramp down 35m where you again might be caught with a little bit of claustrophobia thanks to the low hanging ceilings.
Khafre's Chamber
Image Source: Reddit
You might not have known that Khafre was actually Khufu's son and that's the reason for his pyramid being in such close proximity to the other! Although many people believe that this chamber wasn't actually the chamber of Khafre due to the fact that we haven't been through the whole pyramid yet, it's believed as of now that this bare room is actually Khafre's chamber.
The Khafre Tomb
Image Source: Walk My World
Looking closer at the tomb of Khafre we can see that this sarcophagus managed to survive a little better than that of the one in the Great Pyramid. The lid still remains and it's pretty much intact. Did you know that tourists and visitors here are even encouraged to get themselves into this hole as a way to get that cheeky snap? I don't think I'd even consider risking it!
Illegal Picture
Image Source: Reddit
Pretty Much 100% of the entire world's population will never be able to get this spectacular view for themselves as it's actually illegal for people to head up the pyramids themselves, especially climbing all the way to the top. This person however chose to break those rules and take a huge image that gives us all at least some insight into what it would be like to look down on the earth.
Wooden Ladders
Image Source: TripZilla
Okay so this ladder isn't actually found within the Great Pyramids, but instead inside one of the Dahshur Pyramids ( a group of some older pyramids, pre the prior ones!). It's actually found within the Sneferu or The Bent Pyramid; (you'll come to learn why it's called that!). This looks a little dangerous for me but they're still somehow standing through to this day!
The Bent Pyramid
Image Source: Reddit
The Dahshur Pyramids are years older than the Great Pyramids and signify a period where they hadn't yet perfected the design of a perfectly symmetrical pyramid. You can quite obviously see as to why this is known as the bent pyramid as a result of it being, quite simply, bent! These aren't as popular with tourists but they're still an architectural masterpiece.
Bent Pyramid Passage
Image Source: TripZilla
Okay, well one thing we're learning is that you're going to have to be quite careful when it comes to travelling through all of the pyramids in Egypt. This passageway within the Bent Pyramid hasn't even got flat floors meaning that you'll have to take every step you have with care and you don't even have the option to use handrails as there aren't any on the sides of the wall!
Bent Pyramid Tunnels
Image Source: Reddit
Yet again, within the bent pyramid, as with the others, there are a number of tunnels that you have to travel through in order to reach the chambers. You can see this person having to drop to their knees as it's impossible to stand up straight. I'm sure you must realise how difficult it would be to traverse stairs whilst you're climbing stairs within the structure.
Bent Pyramid Bats
Image Source: Reddit
I'm sure that you can imagine there are large areas of the pyramids that are extremely dark inside, and therefore it's the perfect place for certain critters and animals to make their home. Within the Bent Pyramid there is actually an enclave where the entire ceiling is covered in hundreds and hundreds of bats! You'd probably want to avoid them if you found them a little scary.
The Red Pyramid
Image Source: Reddit
The Red Pyramid is one of the well known outer pyramids, partly down to it's appearance in Rick Riordan's novels! It gets its name as a result of it's red limestone and is supposedly the first time the ancient Egyptians managed to create the perfect pyramid. You'll have to set off on quite a walk just to get inside this place, ever mind finding your way through it!
Red Pyramid Staircases
Image Source: TripZilla
Thankfully, if you plan to visit the Red Pyramids in today's age you wouldn't have to worry quite so much about the difficult incline as they have managed to build a safe staircase to help ease the path upwards to the third chamber within the pyramid. This chamber is actually around 50ft higher than the other two which are actually at the ground level of the pyramid.
Red Pyramid Chamber
Image Source: Walk My World
I know what you're thinking, this doesn't look like any of the other chambers that you've seen in any of the other images in this list right? The chamber is actually very small and seemingly appears to be a room filled with just a pile of rubble; there's not even a sarcophagus there! That's because it was quite convincingly raided in the past and left in the dirt.