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The Great Pyramid of Giza (29°58′41″ N 31°07′53″ E) is the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the World and the most widely recognized pyramid in the world. It is part of the Giza pyramid complex. Though no pharaoh has ever been found buried in an Egyptian pyramid, it is presumed by traditional egyptologists to have been built as a tomb for the Fourth dynasty Egyptian king Khufu (also known under his Greek name Cheops), after whom it is often called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu. The architect of the pyramid was Hemon, a relative of Khufu.

At construction (vc) the Great Pyramid was 280 Egyptian Old Royal Cubits tall (146.5 metres or 481 feet), but due to erosion and the theft of its topmost stone (the so-called pyramidion) its current height is approximately 137 m. As has been proven by papyrus documents, each base side measured in Antiquity 440 (20.63-inch) Royal Cubits (RC). Thus, the Great Pyramid base originally covered approximately 5.3 hectares (53,158 m²). (230.5 m). Today each side has an approximate length of only about 230.36 meters. The reduction in size and area of the structure into its current rough-hewn appearance is due to the absence of its original, white, polished, limestone casing stones... some of which were up to 100" thick. The loosening of some of the casing stones by a massive earthquake in the 14th century (1301AD), suggested to nearby Cairo townspeople that quarrying the pyramid of its remaining near-perfect stonemasonry would be useful for the Cairo post-earthquake reconstruction. Consequently, except for random casing here and there, and the few remaining casing stones basing each of the four compass points of the structure, ultimately, its outer casing only survived for the rebuilding of Cairo temples, mosques, bridges, and buildings after the earthquake.RJS

For four millennia it was the world's tallest structure, unsurpassed until the 160-metre tall spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed c.1300AD. The accuracy of Pyramid's workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have a mean error of only 50 mm in length, and 12 seconds in angle from a perfect square. The sides of the square are unbelievably near-perfectly aligned to the NSEW four compass points in error 3" of 1 degree or better. These alignments are based on (not magnetic north, but) true north. The rise of the sides is assumed to be 51°51', mainly by 'pi' adherents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid