In early 2016, an 18-year-old German tourist named Andrej Ciesielski slipped past the guards at Giza and climbed the Great Pyramid of Khufu, filming all the way to the summit. His photos and video went viral within days, and Egypt answered by banning him from the country for life.

Photographer’s legs above the Giza plateau during the 2016 Great Pyramid climb

The climb: eight minutes up, twenty down

By his own account, Ciesielski reached the top in about eight minutes. A street seller saw him start and laughed. About halfway up, people below began pointing, and police shouted to him in Arabic, but he kept climbing with music in his ears. On the summit he called the moment “absolutely surreal”. The descent took around twenty minutes.

Police were waiting at the bottom. They took him to a station, questioned him and checked his camera, and at first wanted to hand him over to the German embassy. He was released after promising not to climb the pyramids again, with officials citing his ignorance of the law. The footage went up on his YouTube channel, andrejcie.

Photograph from the 2016 climb of the Great Pyramid of Giza
View towards another Giza pyramid from the stone blocks of the Great Pyramid

A lifetime ban from Egypt

Once the pictures spread, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities banned Ciesielski from entering Egypt again. Antiquities minister Mamdouh Eldamaty said an official notice of the life ban had been sent to the German Embassy in Cairo. Climbing the pyramids is forbidden, both to protect the 4,500-year-old stonework and because a fall from the steep, worn blocks can be fatal.

The Great Pyramid of Giza in numbers

The Great Pyramid was built for the pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) of the Fourth Dynasty around 2600 BC, over roughly 26 years. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one still largely intact.

  • Height: about 146.6 m when finished; about 138.5 m today, since most of the smooth limestone casing was removed.
  • Base: about 230.3 m per side.
  • Blocks: an estimated 2.3 million.
  • Record: the tallest structure built by humans for more than 3,700 years.
  • Inside: three main chambers, the Subterranean Chamber, the Queen’s Chamber and the King’s Chamber with its granite sarcophagus.
Giza pyramid seen from an elevated viewpoint through dusty air
Roads and archaeological structures on the Giza plateau seen from above

Visiting the Giza plateau

The pyramid complex sits on a desert plateau in the city of Giza, about 13 km south-west of central Cairo. Beside Khufu’s monument stand the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure. Khafre’s is smaller, yet often looks the tallest because it stands on higher ground, rises at a steeper angle and keeps some of its casing near the top. The Great Sphinx, which most Egyptologists believe carries Khafre’s face, guards the east side. Since 1979 the site has been part of UNESCO’s Memphis and its Necropolis World Heritage Site, which runs south as far as Dahshur.

Start with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities' Giza Plateau overview for tickets and interior visits, which are sold separately. Go early to beat the heat and the crowds, and carry water and sun protection. Finish at the Grand Egyptian Museum nearby, now home to Khufu’s restored solar boat.

Giza plateau and the adjoining city viewed through haze
A still from the 2016 climb of the Great Pyramid of Giza

See Giza from the air in our aerial landmark collection, or visit the cave churches of Cairo's Saint Simon complex.

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