Lepsius Expedition to Egypt: Raising of the Prussian flag on the Great Pyramid of Giza,

Headed by the Egyptologist Richard Lepsius, the Royal Prussian Expedition to Egypt and Ethiopia took place from 1842 to 1845. Its mission was to acquire Egyptian artefacts and to carry out a scientific documentation of monuments. On 15 October 1842, the members of the expedition climbed the peak of the Great Pyramid of Giza to commemorate the birthday of the Prussian king, Frederick William IV. The bizarre scene of what was practically a colonialist first ascent was captured by Johann Jakob Frey in a drawing and published as a lithograph.