Giza City | Greater Cairo | Ancient History Encyclopedia
Ancient History Encyclopedia
To the earliest times ever goes back the history of Giza governorate. It contains ruins from Memphis, first capital of the Egyptian state after King Narmer unified it. In Giza were built three famous Pyramids known as one of seven wonders in antiquity. Even after capital was moved to Thebes (Luxor), this Governorate had remained point of convergence between north and south Egypt. Giza Governorate ranks seventh among cities most beautiful in the world with numerous monuments, museums and tourist zones found there.
The center of Giza Governorate is situated on west bank except for two centers located at east bank; El Saff and Atfih are these two centers. To the west lies the New Valley Governorate while Al Beheira, Menoufia and Alexandria border it in northern region whereas its southern part borders Fayoum and Beni Souef.
The Giza Governorate is a place where various historic eras’ ancient and modern monuments are present, such as: the place of The Great Egyptian Museum which lies within the vicinity of the Pyramids of Giza; it is also referred to as the world’s largest museum devoted to monuments, occupying117 feddans in area and having more than 100,000 archaeological items dating back to Pharaonic, Greek, Roman times.
Construction work at the museum has so far been completed in two phases while the last phase is ongoing. The official opening ceremony for this museum is scheduled for November 2022. Among other attractions, tourists will get a chance to visit Place de l'Obélisque where the first hanging obelisk ever created will be on display and also “Pyramid Wall” – a wall that has stones covered with triangles signifying pyramids on it. The main hall which harbors Ramses II statue can be accessed via its front.
Sphinx is known to be the oldest large sculpture in existence standing at a height of 20 meters with length and width measuring 73.5 meters and 19.3 meters respectively; it takes on the form of a human’s head merged into that of a lion’s body symbolizing mythology both in its physicality as well as conceptually. It was probably made out of limestone taken from nearby quarries later coated in multiple colors of paint when completed sometime between reign of Pharaoh Khephren (2558 BC - 2532 BC), there are some traces left around one of these ears demonstrating that they were once there.
The Giza Pyramids, the famous three pyramids of Khufu, Khephren and Mykerinos, the Sphinx, a lot of smaller pyramids and tombs, a workers' village and an industrial complex for people who constructed them are located on the Giza plateau. The Egyptians in 2,600 BC built the pyramids which is an architectural strange that shows Egypt's grandeur. The ancient Egyptians used to construct pyramids for their royal families as tombs. Among all these pyramids, Pyramid of Cheops is the greatest in size and one of the leading tourist destinations.
Dr Hassan Ragab established this village in 1984 with a dream of creating a museum with real people attired in pharaonic clothes symbolizing ancient Egyptian life type as well as some small models of certain old temples. Twelve museums are found within the village focusing on different aspects of both ancient and modern Egypt's evolution.
