The Great Pyramid of Giza was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu around the year 2,560 BC. The purpose of this huge stone pyramid was to serve as a tomb when he died and to protect the burial chamber from the weather and from thieves who might try to steal the treasures and belongings there. The Great Pyramid is believed to have been built over a 20-year period. First, the site was prepared and then the huge blocks of stone were transported and put in their places.
When it was built, the Great Pyramid was 147 metres high on a base of 230 metres square. It ranked as the tallest structure on earth for more than 43 centuries, only to be surpassed in height in the nineteenth century AD. The structure consisted of approximately 2 million blocks of stone, each weighing about 2.5 tons. It has been suggested that there are enough blocks in the three pyramids to build a 3-metre-high, 0.3-metre-thick wall around France.