Great Pyramid of Khufu - Personal Statement Example

I hope to be an architect one day, and seeing these marvelous wonders first hand would be an experience like no other. I would be able to marvel at the complexity and genius that went into building them, and actually get to be there, an experience that could not be attained simply by reading a book or looking at a picture. I have estimated that the air fare for the trip will be around $2800.00 for round trip tickets; the hotel would cost around $500 dollars a night, for a total of 5 nights. I would also allow myself 100 dollars.

The only other small cost would be the cost of admission to the pyramid. The Great Pyramid at Giza is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It is also the only of the seven that has survived the test of time and remains today ( http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/pyramid.html). This not only shows the monument's unique look back into an ancient time, but also its uncanny ability to resist time, and to withstand each and every century as if it were nothing. This is a tribute to the hard work and time that went into building this great marvel of the world.

The pyramid is "756 feet long on each side, 450 high and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each averaging 2 1/2 tons in weight. Despite the makers' limited surveying tools no side is more than 8 inches different in length than another, and the whole structure is perfectly oriented to the points of the compass."( http://www.unmuseum.org/kpyramid.htm). These figures show how much work and care must have gone into the completion of this great work of art, and how advanced the methods of this structure must have been.

It is because of how intricate and advanced this structure is, as well as its height and history, that I feel it is important to get to see as part of growing as an artist, architect, and person.Despite the enormous size and history of the project, how exactly that Great Pyramid was completed is a riddle that time may never answer for us. "Herodotus said that it would have taken "30 years and 100,000 slaves to have built it."(http://interoz.com/egypt/cheops.htm). However, exactly how long it took, and how many people it took is a question still debated by scholars and historians.

However, many historians believe that Herodotus got many of his numbers wrong, and that it took less workers and less time that Herodotus recorded for us. It is not far fetched to think this, as by the time Herodotus visited the Great Pyramid, it was already 20 centuries old, and many of the information may have been lost of mixed up already (http://www.unmuseum.org/kpyramid.htm).The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest pyramid ever built, and, "it incorporates about 2.3 million stone blocks, weighing an average of 2.

5 to 15 tons each. It is estimated that the workers would have had to set a block every two and a half minutes."( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/khufu.html). The immensity and hard work that went into this monument are just two of the factors that make it resistant to time, and also make it an invaluable work of art to visit on my trip to Egypt.The precision and care that went into this work of art was also great. Perhaps to combat problems that had happened with other pyramids being built around this time, great care was given to the detail and measurements of the pyramid, which is an achievement in itself with the primitive tools the Egyptians would have had to