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originally posted by: Cauliflower
Is there a connection to the all seeing eye on US currency?
www.cheops-pyramide.ch...
The outer stones (casing)
A new method by Franz Löhner
A special visual impact was created by using white outer Tura stones. Franz Löhner postulates, that these outer stones were an integral part of the pyramid and not only a mantle or shell added.
The Tura stone
 Importance of the outer stones
The Giza pyramids must have made an incredible visual impact - at the edge of the desert three abstract geometrical symbols were standing, huge luminous white triangles which were reflecting the blinding light of the sun!
At the moment, when the construction of the pyramid was finished, the surface of the pyramid presented an immaculate, even, plane and steep surface with no entrances and no possibility to climb up. The white Tura stone, the builders had chosen for the outer stones must have been dazzling. To produce this visual impact, the surface of the pyramid had to be unblemished, seamless and very smooth.
To achieve this, all joints between the stones had to be as small as possible and filled with mortar, so they were nearly invisible. This was done with an impressive precision as can be observed on the lower courses of the pyramid of Khufu, where not even a knife can be slid into the crevasses between the stones.
It was very important, that the outer surface should not shift, crack or even fall down in pieces. So not only the layer of stones at the outside, but the next inner layers had to planned precisely as well. The outer Tura stones were layed in such a pattern, that the stones would interlock and the masonry would be tied together with long header (or bond) stones. If core stones should shift and change their position, this would have been seen on the outside, because the surface would crack and the intended visual impression of smoothness and perfection would be destroyed.
 Photo of the outer casing of the step pyramid of Saqqara, which has moved and is flaking off
The fact, that even in the 12th century most of the outer surface stones still existed (observed by Abd al-Latif) shows, how lasting and admirable the Egyptian architectures built. The beautiful outer stones were very popular and were removed from the pyramids bit by bit and used as building material for mosques and houses in Cairo. But even in 1639 the Oxford astronomy professor John Greaves wrote, that the whole face of Khafre's pyramid except the southern side was still entirely intact, but at that time the stones of the pyramid of Khufu had already been removed [5].