Through the Eras

Architecture and DesignThe Giza pyramid complex. PHOTOGRAPH BY ARLENE KEVONIAN. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.passages. The Swiss Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt explainedthe existence of three chambers in 1911 aschanges in the plan made to fool tomb robbers. In thelate twentieth century Egyptologists have found otherpossible explanations for the existence of the three chambers,though they have retained the early, sometimes erroneous,names for them. The lowest chamber, called theSubterranean Chamber, is carved directly into thebedrock—the solid surface beneath the desert sand—andreached by the 58.5-meter (191.9-foot) Descending Passagethat originates in the north face of the pyramid. Theplaned dimensions of the Subterranean Chamber were14 by 7.2 meters (45.9 by 23.6 feet) and 5.3 meters (17.3feet) high—a huge, high-ceilinged chamber—though itwas never finished. Borchardt thought that the workersconstructed the Subterranean Chamber first, but thenabandoned it as the original tomb chamber and left itunfinished. Stadelmann, on the other hand, surmisedthat the unfinished nature of the chamber suggested thatit had been last, its construction permanently interruptedby Khufu’s death. Stadelmann believed the SubterraneanChamber represented the underworld. The so-calledQueen’s Chamber gained its name from early Arab explorersto the pyramid, and could be reached by the AscendingPassage that diverges from the DescendingPassage. The Queen’s Chamber is located in the centerof the pyramid directly on the east/west axis. This chamberis 5.8 by 5.3 meters (19 by 17.3 feet) with a ceilingsix meters (19.6 feet) above its floor—another highceilingedroom. The Queen’s Chamber contains a corbelledniche 4.7 meters high (15.4 feet). Here, Lehnersuggested, was the site of a ka-statue representing theking’s soul. The actual burial was in the King’s Chamber.This chamber—the largest, with the highest ceiling—was10.6 by 5.2 meters (34.7 by 17 feet) with aceiling 5.8 meters (28.5 feet) above its floor. It is reached22 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)