Memories Of Giza

The Giza pyramids are the biggest headstones in human history, Pharaoh tombs, old as the hills and shrouded in mysteries – an impressive sight with a back story seemingly so much larger than us, stunning, overwhelming, elusive.

Walking around the ‘corner’ though, the pyramids are but fragile giants. That other sight is not at all romantic, historical, or mysterious. It’s more a reminder that the Great Pyramid Of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, with only its substance intact.

My strongest memories of Giza are those backstage views, I find them more true in a sense of touching the past and imagining a civilization which basically is beyond imagination – more a dreamland we were led into to be in awe…

History is a maze of interpretations… books, tales, legends, lies…

The glorious reign of the Pharaohs keeps fascinating millions. I wonder how much will be left of it when the pyramids no longer stand, and what it must have been like a few thousand years ago… not to be a Pharaoh.

There are not as many ‘images’ left that could tell us about everyday life back then. Egyptians mostly made images of things that were unique or occurred just once. The ordinary life outside the Pharaoh palaces wasn’t worth ‘capturing’… There is hardly any tangible connection to the actual truth of the Dynasties…

The contemporary face of Giza is that of a monumental expedition site in demise. The people of Giza are friendly guides and guards, or offer tourists a ride around the ruins – time travelling at a camel’s pace?…

I spent days wandering around the pyramids and thought how gilded they can look at close distance – but otherwise they are a giant pile of boulders marked for time, like a tree trunk in reverse, losing layers only every hundreds of years rather than decades.

The Giza pyramids are a guarded monument, and enduring the hot desert sun, I thought of the slaves who are said to have built these tombs for rulers close to heaven and eternal light. The patchwork of ideas surrounding this ‘wonder of the world? is like a mist that dissolves the closer I get.

In the end, we look for the shade when all awe doesn’t filter out the unbearable heat any more.
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You can see more images in the gallery Egypt: High Antiquity »