The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest structure in the world for more than 3,800 years.

Original photo by Jeremy Bishop/ Unsplash

Completed in approximately 2560 BCE and originally standing 481 feet tall, the Great Pyramid of Giza remains a marvel of human ingenuity thousands of years after it was built. The only one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, it receives more than 14 million visitors per year.

It must have been even more impressive when the Pharaoh Khufu (who reigned from roughly 2589 to 2566 BCE) had it constructed as his tomb, especially since it was the tallest structure in the world at the time — a title it held for more than 3,800 years. It wasn’t until Lincoln Cathedral was completed in Lincoln, England, in 1311 that the Great Pyramid dropped to the No. 2 spot, as the church stood at a height of 525 feet.

No one’s entirely sure how the pyramids were built.

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Though some consensus has formed on the basics, experts continue to debate exactly how the Egyptians constructed their most famous structures.

The cathedral’s reign lasted a comparatively short 237 years or so, as another church, St. Mary’s in Stralsund, Germany, topped it in either 1548 or 1549 when the Lincoln Cathedral’s central tower spire was destroyed by a storm, decreasing its overall height. Other buildings that have held the lofty title include the Washington Monument, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, and Taipei 101.

Numbers Don't Lie

Stone blocks in the Great Pyramid

2.3 million

Surviving pyramids in Egypt

100+

Total height (in feet) of the Burj Khalifa

2,722

Years it took to build the Great Pyramid

~20

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The world’s tallest structure is now ______.

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The world’s tallest structure is now the Burj Khalifa.

Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt.

Though pyramids are practically synonymous with Egypt, the country’s southern neighbor, Sudan, actually contains more — approximately 255, compared to roughly 118 in Egypt. Considerably smaller and steeper than their Egyptian counterparts, those Sudanese pyramids were built by the “Black Pharaohs” of the Kushite kingdoms in modern-day Sudan between 2,700 and 2,300 years ago. Most are in Nubia, located within the Nile valley (hence they are known as the Nubian pyramids), and are made of granite and sandstone.