<P> There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid . The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished . The so - called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure . The main part of the Giza complex is a setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples in honour of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller "satellite" pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for nobles . </P> <P> It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (often Hellenicised as "Cheops") and was constructed over a 20 - year period . Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu (also called Hemon), is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid . It is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall (146.5 metres (480.6 ft)), but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long . The mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes . The volume, including an internal hillock, is roughly 2,500,000 cubic metres (88,000,000 cu ft). </P> <P> Based on these estimates, building the pyramid in 20 years would involve installing approximately 800 tonnes of stone every day . Additionally, since it consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks, completing the building in 20 years would involve moving an average of more than 12 of the blocks into place each hour, day and night . The first precision measurements of the pyramid were made by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1880--82 and published as The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh . Almost all reports are based on his measurements . Many of the casing stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid fit together with extremely high precision . Based on measurements taken on the northeastern casing stones, the mean opening of the joints is only 0.5 millimetre wide (1 / 50 of an inch). </P> <P> The pyramid remained the tallest man - made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, unsurpassed until the 160 - metre - tall (520 ft) spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed c. 1300 . The accuracy of the pyramid's workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 millimetres in length . The base is horizontal and flat to within ± 15 mm (0.6 in). The sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within four minutes of arc) based on true north, not magnetic north, and the finished base was squared to a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc . </P>

How long did it take to build great pyramid of giza