View of the Pyramids of Khufu and Khafre and the Sphinx

The Giza Plateau, located on the west bank of the river Nile near Cairo is home to iconic Egyptian monuments, including 3 large pyramids built as royal places of burial in Dynasty 4 of the Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2465 BCE). The necropoli of Giza, Ṣaqqārah, Dahshūr, Abū Ruwaysh, and Abū Ṣīr are the burial grounds of the inhabitants of the city of ancient Memphis and were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

The Great Pyramid of king Khufu and the Pyramid of King Khafre are the largest pyramids built in ancient Egypt, and along with the Sphinx, have become key cultural icons of "ancient Egypt" fixed in the Western imagination.

The photograph shows the Pyramid of Khafre with the remains of casing stones at its apex and the Sphinx, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human (left), and the Great Pyramid of Khufu (right).