Located on the Nile's west bank, Giza became the royal necropolis, or burial area, for the pharaohs' capital city of Memphis 5,000 years ago. In this area, the Pyramids were built for the 4^th dynasty kings of Khufu, Khafrae, and Mankarae who ruled during the period from 2589 to 2504 B.C. Giza is now one of the most populous cities in Egypt.

Great Pyramids of Giza:

Due to their belief that death on earth was the start of a journey to the next world, the bodies of the kings were embalmed and entombed within the Pyramids to protect them and allow their ascension to their afterlife among the gods. A mortuary temple and a valley temple were built for each pyramid. Tombs of the kings' family members and royal attendants, known as mastabas, were built in the area surrounding the pyramids.

King Khufu, known by the Greek name "Cheops", ruled from 2589 to 2566 B.C., at the peak of culture and prosperity for the Old Kingdom. In 2550 B.C. he commissioned the building of a pyramid from granite and limestone. The pyramid was constructed over a 20 year period and upon completion it stood high at 146.5 meters. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is among the Seven Ancient Wonders of the world. Three smaller auxiliary pyramids were built south of this pyramid, where each of Khufu's three wives was buried.

King Khafrae was son of Khufu and one of his successors. He came to power in 2520 B.C. and commissioned the building of a complex that would include a pyramid with its supplementary temples and the Great Sphinx. The Sphinx embodied the body of a lion and head of a pharaoh; it is believed to be that of Khufu and the guardian spirit for his burial complex.

King Khafrae was best known for his statues; 58 statues were found in his pyramid complex. In his Valley Temple, four sphinxes and two baboon statues were found, besides 23 life - size statues of the king. 19 colossal statues of Khufu were placed in the chambers and courtyard of the Mortuary Temple, and a further ten were set in the Sphinx Temple.

King Mankarae was believed to be the grandson of Khufu and during his reign, which lasted from 2490 to 2472 B.C., a third and smaller pyramid was built in the complex for his burial.

The Sun Boat:

In ancient Egyptian mythology the sun God, Ra, sailed through the sky in the Sun Boat to give light to the world. It was also this ship that was used by the gods to travel between the heavens and earth. King Khufu's Sun Boat was buried and sealed in a pit near his Pyramid, where it remained undisturbed until its recovery in 1954. Although the history of the boat is still unknown, sun boats were usually built to serve the purpose of ritual vessels that carry the king and Ra across the heavens upon a king's resurrection. The boat bears signs of being used in water and it is presumed that the boat might have been used as a funerary barge to carry the king's body to his pyramid.

Today Khufu's Sun Boat is on display in a specially built museum at the Great Pyramids complex.

 The Sakkara Pyramids:

During the 3^rd dynasty of the Old Kingdom, Sakkara was Memphis's necropolis before Giza emerged as the royalty's burial ground, and the area remained a complex for cult ceremonies and minor burials for a period that spanned more than 3000 years.

The first Egyptian pyramid and the world's oldest step pyramid was that built in Sakkara by King Djoser. The pyramid served the purpose of protecting the body of the king who died in 2649 B.C. and is surrounded by 16 other pyramids and numerous mastabas. Tombs of the 5^th dynasty in Sakkara were decorated with the pyramids texts, religious spells delineating a pharaohs route and ascent to the heavens in his afterlife.

 The Sound & Light Show at the Great Pyramids of Giza:

Have you ever wondered how life was thousands of years ago? This question and others similar thoughts inspired creators to accompany you for a short while to the past, by introducing the sound and light show. It is a magnificent show that brings creatively to life the rule of ancient Egyptians. The artists skillfully created a show to present images of all historical eras. For an hour, you enjoy the sound and light show near the pyramids and the Sphinx. The history is re-told by the Sphinx, telling you the most ancient secrets of the world. In the 21st century, you go back in time thousands of years ago to see how they were built and survived! The show manages to convey the great humane spirit and creativity behind their creation. 

There you will find the pyramid of Khufu, the Immortal and Sky Grabber, close to its some alters, where the wood-made boats of Khufu are placed, which KING Khufu would use to sail on his journey to immortality. Also, you will find the pyramid built by Khufu's son Khafrae, who made his own smaller and shorter than his father's pyramid; we can see Khafrae's face, engraved on a sheet of green diorite stone, so lively as if the artist just finished it. Then, last but not least the pyramid of Mankarae, who was like his father modest and decent enough to make his pyramid smaller than the other two.

In one hour, the show would narrate the history of those great kings, their secrets, legends and secrets of ancient history.

Winter show schedule (from October 01^st till April 30^th):

 Summer show schedule (from May 01^st till September 30^th):

The Pharaonic Village:

The Pharaonic Village began with a dream. Already famous for his rediscovery of the ancient techniques for making papyrus, Dr. Hassan Ragab had begun to ponder the possibility of a living museum with real people, actors in costume and in a realistic locale, taking the place of static exhibits. It was after a visit to Disney World's EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida, that his idea took root. Dr. Ragab believed EPCOT "was too computerized -- there was nothing human about it. I began to think, 'Dare I have real, live people in my village, dressed in the manner of three or four thousand years ago?'"

And so in 1974, Dr. Ragab reinvested the profits from his papyrus rediscoveries and began converting Jacob Island into a detailed replica of ancient Egyptian life. His first step was the planting of five thousand trees to block the view of modern Cairo that surrounded the island. The first trees planted were weeping willows, sycamores, and date palms; trees easily identified in tomb paintings as a part of ancient Egyptian life. But many more plants, flowers, animals and birds also depicted in the paintings could no longer be found in Egypt, and some were extinct. Yet Dr. Ragab was not discouraged. He was already familiar with traveling great distances to find what he needed. Years before, he had traveled to the Sudan and Ethiopia to find papyrus roots for his earlier projects, and now he went out once again to seek plants and animals for the Pharaonic Village. He returned to Cairo with seeds, cuttings, and roots of plants that had flourished in Egypt thousands of years ago, and a special surprise, the famed Medium Geese so often depicted in ancient Egyptian art, but long thought extinct by the modern world. He went everywhere in his quest, from the mouth of the Atbara River to Ethiopia, and in each place found something new and wonderful to bring back. Little by little, a collection of plants and animals not seen in Egypt in centuries was assembled on Jacob Island. For the next six years, Dr. Ragab worked to get his finds to live and grow in Egyptian soil, soil that thousands of years ago, had been their home.

One quest just about over, another one was beginning; this time for detailed knowledge about the daily life of ancient Egyptians from all walks of life. Dr. Ragab began questioning Egyptologists at museums and universities all over the world, searching for the knowledge that would make the Pharaonic Village a complete replica of an ancient Egyptian village. Not satisfied with information simply on the lives of the rulers and upper class, Dr. Ragab was interested in even the most trivial aspects of Egyptian life. "Often, what I wanted to know, even they could not tell me," says Dr. Ragab. "How did the king live? What did they have on their bedroom dressers? What did their doors and windows look like?" Dr. Ragab wanted every detail, every aspect of the village exactly right before he began building.

And build he did. A nobleman's house and garden, a market, a field for planting and harvesting, a shipyard, other buildings, roads, farms, and at the centerpiece, the gigantic temple of white stone that has become the symbol for the Pharaonic Village. Ten years of work and over six million dollars went into the building of the village. In 1984, Dr. Ragab's Pharaonic Village formally opened to the public.

Dr. Abdelsalam, Dr. Hassan Ragab's son, joined his father in administrating the Village in 1989. He insists that it was not finished, more like a work in progress. Some years ago, work was completed on an exacting construction of a life-size replica of Tutankhamen's tomb, just as it appeared in 1922 when Howard Carter opened it. Since the real tomb in the Valley of the Kings had been closed to the public for sometime, this replica became the only place to view the tomb, or for visitors who were unable to visit Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. In addition, Dr. Abdelsalam oversaw the opening of several new exhibits (13) that have gone beyond ancient Egypt recounting various phases of modern Egyptian history.