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Secondary sourcePhotographDecember 1849

View of the Great Pyramid (Cheops)

Maxime Du Camp · December 1849

An 1849 photograph of the Great Pyramid, the monument built for the pharaoh Khufu.

Shows the Great Pyramid, the tomb Khufu commissioned, photographed by a traveller millennia after his reign.

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Sepia photograph of the Great Pyramid of Giza seen from a low angle against a pale sky, with sandy ground in the foreground. The print is mounted on a cream card with a handwritten French caption below and the word Egypte in pencil at lower left.
Maxime Du Camp, 'Vue de la grande pyramide (Chéops) prise à l'angle S.E.', December 1849. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This salted paper photograph was made in December 1849 by the French photographer Maxime Du Camp. It shows the Great Pyramid of Giza seen from a low angle, with a handwritten French caption identifying it as a view of the 'grande pyramide (Chéops)' taken from its south-east angle. The print is held today by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

The Great Pyramid was built as a tomb for the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. By the mid-nineteenth century it had become one of the most photographed monuments on earth, as European travellers like Du Camp used the new technology of photography to document ancient sites. This image is not from Khufu's own time, but shows how his monument was seen and recorded thousands of years later.

Look closer

  • Why might a photographer in 1849 have chosen this low angle to photograph the pyramid?
  • What does the handwritten caption tell us about how the photograph was meant to be used?
  • What is missing from this image that you might want to know about Khufu himself?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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A large limestone pyramid with a smooth-edged stepped outer surface rises against a clear blue sky over pale desert sand. Small figures stand at the lower left, and rubble and low stone blocks lie at its base.Artifact

Primary source

Great Pyramid of Giza

c. 2560 BCE

Vintage postcard showing the Great Pyramid of Giza in grey tones against a pale sky, with a large dark tree in front, two palm trees at left, a camel and rider at lower left, and the caption 'La Grande Pyramide Cheops'. Handwriting and a stamp are on the right.Photograph

Secondary source

La Grande Pyramide Cheops

1903

A small ivory statuette of a seated figure wearing a tall royal crown, with hands resting on the lap, on a clear acrylic base set against a blue cloth. Dark encrusted patches mark the chest and arm.Sculpture

Primary source

Khufu Statuette

c. 2600–2494 BCE (possibly later, 664–525 BCE)

Sepia albumen photograph of the Giza pyramids of Cheops and Chephren, with the Sphinx and the Valley Temple ruins in the foreground, and robed men with camels standing to the right. Caption printed in white script along the bottom.Photograph

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Pyramids of Cheops and Chephren and the Sphinx at Giza

The Khufu ship, a large ancient Egyptian wooden solar barque displayed in a museum gallery. Its long hull is supported by a criss-crossed framework of metal and wooden struts, and visitors stand along the walkways and balconies around it under a curved, illuminated ceiling.Artifact

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Khufu ship

Royal shipwrights of Khufu · c. 2566 BCE

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