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When it was finished about 4,500 years ago, the Great Pyramid of Giza stood 146.6 m tall. For more than 3,800 years nothing built by people rose higher, until the timber spires of medieval English cathedrals overtook it.

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The pyramid was built for the pharaoh Khufu from an estimated 2.3 million blocks of stone and faced with polished white limestone brought by boat from Tura, across the Nile. In the Middle Ages most of that casing was stripped away and reused in Cairo, and the top is missing, so today it stands about 138.5 m. Sources disagree about which building beat it first. Some point to Old St Paul's Cathedral in London, completed in the 13th century; others to Lincoln Cathedral, whose central spire is said to have reached about 160 m in the early 14th century. Both spires were made of wood covered with lead, and both are gone: Lincoln's blew down in a storm in 1548, and St Paul's burned after a lightning strike in 1561.

Türkçe oku
Gize'deki Büyük Piramit, yaklaşık 4.500 yıl önce tamamlandığında 146,6 metre yüksekliğindeydi. İnsan eliyle yapılmış hiçbir yapı 3.800 yılı aşkın bir süre onu geçemedi; rekoru ancak Orta Çağ'da İngiliz katedrallerinin ahşap sivri kuleleri kırdı.

Piramit, firavun Keops için tahminen 2,3 milyon taş bloktan yapıldı ve Nil'in karşı yakasındaki Tura'dan teknelerle getirilen cilalı beyaz kireçtaşıyla kaplandı. Orta Çağ'da bu kaplamanın büyük kısmı sökülüp Kahire'deki yapılarda kullanıldı; tepesi de eksik. Bu yüzden piramit bugün yaklaşık 138,5 metredir. Rekoru ilk hangi yapının kırdığı konusunda kaynaklar ayrışır. Kimileri 13. yüzyılda tamamlanan Londra'daki eski St Paul Katedrali'ni, kimileri de orta kulesinin 14. yüzyılın başında yaklaşık 160 metreye ulaştığı söylenen Lincoln Katedrali'ni gösterir. İki kule de kurşunla kaplı ahşaptan yapılmıştı ve ikisi de bugün yok: Lincoln'ünkü 1548'de bir fırtınada devrildi, St Paul'ünkü ise 1561'de yıldırım düştükten sonra yandı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Great Pyramid of Giza
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