The History of the Giza Pyramids at a Glance

Most accounts treat this topic as if it ended with completion. In fact, the construction phase accounts for less than two percent of the history of this place.

It took eighty years to erect the three great complexes. They then stood for another four and a half millennia, during which a great deal happened: The cult continued for generations before ceasing. The chambers were emptied. Sand arrived. Later, the site was sanctified again, then became a quarry, then a tourist attraction, then a research subject, and finally a World Heritage Site.

The history of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is therefore not the story of its construction, but of its very long subsequent use. Almost everything visible on the structure today owes nothing to its builders, but to what happened afterward: the missing casing stones, the intrusion shafts, the barriers, and the cleared areas.

This page provides an overview of the timeline. Separate pages cover individual sections, linked where appropriate.

And it begins before construction, because the terrain was already in use.

A note on sources first. For the construction period itself, there are hardly any contemporary texts; what we know comes mostly from archaeological evidence. For the centuries that followed, the ratio reverses: There are inscriptions, travel reports, administrative records, and chronicles from every epoch. Consequently, the history of this site is better documented the further it recedes from the time of construction.

Eighty Years, and Then It Stopped

The construction of the Giza pyramids was neither the beginning nor a fresh start. Burials had already taken place on the rock ridge, and the architectural form itself had a development history of roughly a century behind it.

Before Giza, a step pyramid stood at Saqqara; after Giza, several attempts at true pyramids followed at Dahshur, including one with a kinked flank because the original slope was too steep. The three complexes at Giza are thus not the beginning of a development, but its mature form, executed on the largest possible scale.

Within roughly eighty years, three complete complexes arose here, including temples, processional ways, subsidiary pyramids, and boat pits, along with a planned necropolis for the court and a settlement for the workers. This represents one of the largest continuous construction programs in human history, spread across three successive reigns.

Remarkable is the planning achievement behind it. The location of the first structure is as far north as the bedrock allowed, leaving room for the following two complexes. The cemeteries for the court were laid out as a grid from the start, rather than being squeezed in between buildings afterward. This suggests that not just a single structure was planned, but an entire landscape.

Afterward, it stopped abruptly. Successors built smaller structures at other locations, and over the following centuries, the pyramid form lost its significance as a royal tomb. Why this happened remains unclear; discussions focus on changed religious beliefs or simply the fact that such an effort could not be repeated.

The excavation documentation for the entire site makes this sequence comprehensible, as it records complexes, graves, and settlements in their context.

How a Monument Changed Its Meaning

What followed is the actually interesting part, showing how a monument changes its meaning.

Initially, operations continued. The mortuary temples had priesthoods, supplies, and independent income from lands, and this cult was maintained for generations. It ended with the collapse of central authority at the end of the Old Kingdom. The complexes stood unguarded, and during this time, the chambers were likely emptied.

Then came the sand, and with it, forgetfulness of details. Around a thousand years later, in the New Kingdom, the site was already antiquity even for the Egyptians themselves. The history of the Giza Sphinx takes a turn here: The figure was now worshipped as a deity; a king had the sand removed and erected a stele between the paws, and a temple for a goddess revered as Lady of the Pyramids was built at one of the small subsidiary pyramids.

A remarkable figure belongs to the same era. A son of Ramesses II served as High Priest dedicated to restoring Old Kingdom buildings and had the names of the original patrons reapplied. His restoration texts are primarily attested at sites in Saqqara. He is considered by many to be the first person to systematically care about someone else's past.

The earliest visitor inscriptions date from the same period. Egyptians of the New Kingdom came to the site, viewed the thousand-year-old complexes, and left notes on the walls of burial chapels, sometimes with names and dates. These are the oldest surviving testimonies of people who traveled to a monument out of interest. Cultural tourism at this site is therefore roughly three and a half millennia old.

The site was no longer an active burial ground, but a pilgrimage destination and object of reverence, for people who themselves already lived in a world ancient to us.

From Tourism to Quarry

With the Greeks began something that continues to this day: tourism.

Travelers from the Mediterranean region came, had stories told to them, and wrote them down. Herodotus described the structures and construction time in the fifth century BC, based on information from Egyptian priests, providing the figure of twenty years that is still cited today. Roman visitors left inscriptions. By this time, the structures were already two and a half millennia old.

From the Middle Ages onward, usage shifted to the practical. Cairo grew, and the pyramids became the most convenient quarry in the region. The smooth casing disappeared over centuries into mosques, city walls, and palaces, and because it makes sense to start from the bottom, only a remnant remained at the very tip of the middle pyramid. A ruler attempted to dismantle an entire structure in 1196, gave up after eight months, and left a notch.

In art history, the Giza pyramids appear during this period primarily as a misunderstanding. Medieval European depictions show them as grain silos from the biblical Joseph narrative: pointed, slender, and with openings for filling. Those who had not seen them painted them as the story required.

Depictions became more accurate only when travelers went themselves and drew from observation rather than memory. The transition is clearly readable in images: Initially, the structures are rendered too pointed and slender; then proportions become correct; then measurements and floor plans are added. Anyone wishing to date a view can orient themselves by this development.

Only from the 18th century did views arise based on personal observation. From there lies a direct line to the surveys and excavations that established our current knowledge.

The Most Recent Phase: Preservation Instead of Use

The most recent epoch has changed the site more than anything since the stone robbing, just in the opposite direction.

In the 20th century, clearing, documentation, and securing took place: The Sphinx was completely freed from sand, cemeteries were uncovered and numbered, and paths and barriers were created. Since 1979, the entire area together with the pyramid fields down to Dahshur has been protected as a World Heritage Site, making any major intervention subject to approval.

Since 2025, a comprehensive reorganization of visitor management is underway. The main access point has been moved to the desert road in the southwest; private vehicles and tour buses are no longer allowed on the plateau, and electric buses operate between key points. The official overview of the site lists current regulations including ticket structure.

Parallel to this, the focus of research has shifted. Excavations today occur primarily at the workers' settlement and in the cemeteries, and the spectacular findings of recent years were made without spades, using measurement techniques that see through stone.

How long this phase will last is open. Previous phases each lasted centuries, and in each, what was happening was considered self-evident. The medieval stone robbing was not vandalism, but reasonable material management. The explosions of the 19th century were research according to the standards of the time. What seems right today will also eventually be historically contextualized.

Thus, the site stands in a new phase of its history, and it is the first in which the goal is not use, but preservation.

Frequently asked questions

How long did construction take in total?

Roughly eighty years for the three great complexes combined, spread across three successive reigns. For the largest alone, about twenty years are assumed.

Was anything built on the site before the pyramids?

Burials had already taken place there. The architectural form itself had a development history of roughly a century at other locations.

When were the chambers looted?

Likely after the collapse of central authority at the end of the Old Kingdom. This is not proven for these complexes, but well-documented for others.

Why is the casing missing?

It was removed over centuries as building material for Cairo, starting in the Middle Ages. What remained was what was too high for easy removal.

What has changed recently?

Since 2025, a new visitor regulation applies with a relocated main entrance, vehicle ban on the plateau, and electric buses between key points.