Completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed around 2560 BCE as the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu, built from an estimated 2.3 million limestone blocks and standing roughly 146.6 meters tall at completion, a height unsurpassed by any human structure for well over 3,800 years until the completion of Lincoln Cathedral's spire in the 14th century. It is the oldest and only substantially intact member of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World, and it stands as the largest of the three main pyramids of the Giza plateau, precisely aligned to the cardinal points with an accuracy that continues to draw scholarly study of ancient Egyptian surveying and construction technique. Its original smooth limestone casing stones, largely stripped away over the centuries for reuse in later Cairo buildings, would have given the completed monument a far more brilliant appearance than its exposed core masonry shows today.