Cheops Boat Museum

Giza

LoginSave

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

  • Pyramids of Giza during sunset.

    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…

  • A guide briefs tourists before canopic jars which contained the organs of the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom Pharaoh Tutankhamun (1332-1323 BC) at his tomb KV62, displayed with the Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Museum in the centre of Egypt's capital Cairo on November 6, 2022. - The resting place of Egypt's pharaoh Tutankhamun has become the world's most famous tomb, its discovery 100 years ago among the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.

    Egyptian Museum

    7.65 MILES

    One of the world’s most important collections of ancient artefacts, the Egyptian Museum takes pride of place in Downtown Cairo, on the north side of Midan…

  • It is the most remarkable construction of the necropolis of Saqqara, south of the city of Memphis. Some tourists walk next to the pyramid..Saqqara, Egypt. March 27, 2008

    Saqqara

    9.04 MILES

    Covering a 7km stretch of the Western Desert, Saqqara, the huge cemetery of ancient Memphis, was an active burial ground for more than 3500 years and is…

  • View of the Citadel from Al-Azhar Park

    Al Azhar Park

    8.82 MILES

    With funds from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, what had been a mountain of garbage, amassed over centuries, was in 2005, almost miraculously, transformed…

  • Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo.

    Al Azhar Mosque

    8.99 MILES

    Founded in AD 970 as the centrepiece of the newly created Fatimid city, Al Azhar is one of Cairo’s earlier mosques, and its sheikh is considered the…

  • The minaret of Qalawun complex rises over Al-Muizz street.

    Sharia Al Muizz Li Din Allah

    8.9 MILES

    Sharia Al Muizz, as it’s usually called, named after the Fatimid caliph who conquered Cairo in AD 969, was Cairo's grand thoroughfare, once chock-a-block…

  • The Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt.

    Coptic Museum

    6.07 MILES

    This museum, founded in 1908, houses Coptic art from the earliest days of Christianity in Egypt right through to early Islam. It is a beautiful place, as…

  • Cairo, Egypt - December 24, 2017: Mihrab of Manial Palace mosque decorated with intricate golden patterns on carved wood, muqarnas in arch, bright blue tiles inside of niche, on December 24 in Cairo

    Manial Palace

    6.73 MILES

    After a years'-long restoration period, this palace complex, built by the uncle of King Farouk, Prince Mohammed Ali, in the early 20th century, has once…

View more 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"
}