Cheops Boat Museum

Giza


Immediately south of the Great Pyramid is this fascinating museum with exactly one object on display: one of Cheops' five solar barques (boats), buried near his pyramid, and unearthed in 1954. This huge, stunning ancient wood vessel, possibly the oldest boat in existence, was carefully restored from 1200 pieces of Lebanese cedar and encased in this museum to protect it from the elements. Visitors to the museum must help this process by donning protective footwear to keep sand out.

Five large pits were found near the Great Pyramid of Khufu. They contained the pharaoh’s solar barques, which may have been used to convey the mummy of the dead pharaoh across the Nile to the valley temple, from where it was brought up the causeway and into the tomb chamber. The boats were then buried around the pyramid to provide transport for the pharaoh in the next world.

This boat was put back together for this museum, but the others were buried again after their discovery.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Giza attractions

1. Tomb of Seshemnufer IV

0.07 MILES

The Tomb of Seshemnufer IV, just southeast of the Great Pyramid, is almost always open. There are carved deer on the entrance room walls and a burial…

2. Great Pyramid of Khufu

0.1 MILES

The oldest pyramid in Giza and the largest in Egypt, Khufu’s Great Pyramid stood 146m high when it was completed around 2570 BC. After 46 windy centuries,…

3. Queens' Pyramids

0.1 MILES

Along the Great Pyramid of Khufu's east face, three small structures some 20m high resemble piles of rubble. These are the Queens’ Pyramids, the tombs of…

4. Pyramids of Giza

0.11 MILES

The last remaining wonder of the ancient world; for nearly 4000 years, the extraordinary shape, impeccable geometry and sheer bulk of the Giza Pyramids…

5. Solar Barque Pits

0.15 MILES

On the east side of the Great Pyramid of Khufu note the solar barque pits that housed the giant ritual boats buried with the pharaoh.

6. Eastern Cemetery

0.15 MILES

In this cemetery, on the eastern flank of the Queen's Pyramids, you can still see the perfectly smooth limestone facing along the bases of some structures…

7. Tomb of Meresankh III

0.17 MILES

The bas-reliefs of daily life – scenes depict farming and craftspeople as well as Meresankh's family – inside this 4th dynasty tomb provide a colourful…

8. King Farouk's Rest House

0.2 MILES

East of the Great Pyramid of Khufu is a ruin of a different era: King Farouk’s Rest House, a grand neo-Pharaonic structure built in 1946 by Mustafa Fahmy…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "egypt/cairo/giza-pyramids/attractions/cheops-boat-museum/a/poi-sig/1431450/1342174",
      "destination": "Giza",
      "continent": "Africa",
      "country": "Egypt",
      "city": "Cairo",
      "neighborhood": "Giza",
      "position": "superzone"
    }