The world history is filled with efforts and scriptures of beautiful architectural practices by different civilizations. One might even say that architecture in a civilization plays a major role in defining the identity of their people, culture and their history. One of the most famous architectural symbols is the dome of Mughal structures, which plays a role of a signature left by the Mughals on the structure and helps us immediately identify who it belongs to.
Now when we come to talk about architectural structures as a whole, there is one masterpiece that pops into my mind, The Pyramids of Giza. They are the most famous remains of the ancient Egyptian civilization, they were initially built and designed during Pharaoh Khufu’s reign in 2550 B.C. As one of the wonders of the world and architectural masterpieces they do well at their job of keeping the ancient Egyptians well in our memories, as it was intended. For me, they are more than just an architectural masterpiece, they are one of my greatest cultural heritages. Being part Egyptian, I love to flaunt how maybe one of my ancestors was involved in the building of the great tombs. While being the beautiful structures they are, the pyramids are also one of the great mysteries in human history, because it’s almost impossible for us to conclude as to how the people managed to lift and align those giant limestone and granite slabs in the order they are. One of my favourite theories regarding this issue is how they must have possibly simulated an anti-gravity chamber around the site of construction, this may come to some people as absurdity, but when we think about it there have been so many civilizations that sore so high, discovered so much but ended up declining while taking all their knowledge with them. If not there is another slightly more satisfying and simpler theory that has come to light that they must have possibly wetted the sand all around the construction site then slide the smooth slabs across the land then have some sort of contraption such as modern-day cranes to lift them.
The civilization that built them is most importantly remembered for their mastery in the field of science and academia. They were the medically developed civilization, they closely studied astronomy and were also masters of technology. The golden ratio, phi, the most magical number which has been observed in great mysterious places, such as the most famous Mona Lisa itself, has also been observed in the pyramids. Which explains how they are so perfect to look at, so symmetrical and so well built. That’s just one of the divine applications of science used in them. When we think of the building process and thinking that went behind it, its quite spectacular, the Egyptians made use of an adhesive which surprisingly counts as a quite modern one or similar to the ones we use today in a modern building, which is POP – Plaster of Paris or gypsum mortar.
Once you enter, the pyramids the outside doesn’t even seem half as interesting, the inside of pyramids are almost labyrinths to different tombs of different Pharaohs, probably designed to make it harder for people to find the tombs, as they are usually filled with gold and jewels and all the riches the pharaohs had last before they died, also other important items that they might require in their afterlife. Anyone who does find the tomb is also bestowed with a curse, of having a mystifying death, one of the most famous cases being the death of English Archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon (George Herbert), and every one else responsible for the excavation of Tutankhamun’s Tomb in 1922. Many have attributed their deaths to the mummy’s curse, which was placed by priests on each tomb/mummy that will have an effect if someone found the mummy and the riches placed with it.
Looking at the structure many people might also ask why, why that specific shape? Egyptians, unique as they were, sore high in every aspect. They had a quite different religion, rather very interesting as well, they had Polytheistic believes, hence had many deities like – Osiris, the God of the underworld; Hathor, the Goddess of motherhood and fertility and Ra, the Sun God also known as the father of all pharaohs the main reason why the pyramids are shaped the way they are today and the reason they are the way we see them. He was said to have sat on a sort of “pyramid-shaped” heap on earth, which had emerged from one of the primordial seas, hence the pyramid shape. Another thing is also that, if looked at from above, the pyramids seem to look and symbolize the sun’s rays, originally made from limestone, due to which they purposefully looked divine.
As said, we observed through these many lines, how amazingly the ancient Egyptians portrayed so much meaning of their culture in these Mystical Tombs, that we call the Pyramids of Giza.
By Sarah Sallam
