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Before entering the mortuary temple visitors pass under the windowed gateway where Ramses had his pleasure rooms and enter an open space which was once a magnificent garden. Facing, is the deeply carved first pylon, which shows Ramses fighting imaginary battles against the enemies of Egypt but on the inner walls are scenes of battles that he really did fight and win. To the right of the gateway is the temple that Hatshepsut built and on the left is the temple of the Divine Adoratrix, which was added at a later date.
Casing stones
casing stone
At completion, the Great Pyramid was surfaced by white "casing stones" – slant-faced, but flat-topped, blocks of highly polished white limestone. These were carefully cut to what is approximately a face slope with a seked of 5½ palms to give the required dimensions. Visibly, all that remains is the underlying stepped core structure seen today. In AD 1300, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were then carted away by Bahri Sultan An-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din al-Hasan in 1356 to build mosques and fortresses in nearby Cairo. The stones can still be seen as parts of these structures. Later explorers reported massive piles of rubble at the base of the pyramids left over from the continuing collapse of the casing stones, which were subsequently cleared away during continuing excavations of the site. Nevertheless, a few of the casing stones from the lowest course can be seen to this day in situ around the base of the Great Pyramid, and display the same workmanship and precision as has been reported for centuries.
the Egyptians recorded minute aspects of their society but this one magnificent achievement has no written documentation whatsoever.