A World-Famous Plateau

It is often a dream gateway to a fantasy vision of Egypt, with its mysteries, hieroglyphs and treasures. But most tours are often limited to a quick visit to the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure and the Sphinx. The lure of these three huge “mansions of eternity” and the leonine beast with the human head tends to eclipse the rest.

And yet … over the centuries, the Egyptians built Giza into a vast necropolis rich in lessons about their civilization, revealing their conception of the hereafter, their architectural knowledge, their art and their writing.

Situated on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cairo, Africa’s largest city, the Giza Plateau is a decidedly little-known archaeological jewel subject to threats from all sides, whether from rampant urban sprawl, the elements, or even vandalism. This raises two seemingly incompatible questions:

How can this heritage be preserved, and how can it be shared with as many people as possible?