Astronomy of the Great Pyramid

12 March- 22 July 2011. This event focuses in the pyramids of ancient Egypt and particularly on the Great Pyramid of Khofu in Giza, constructed for the burial of pharaohs.

Pyramids were originally were conceived as a getaway to the stars, from where the spirits of the dead pharaohs were believed to ascend directly to the stars as for the Pyramid of Khofu, known for its complicated system of shafts, which seem to be directed to the most important starts in the sky.

In the early 1990s the Belgian engineer Robert Bauval noticed that the asymmetrical arrangement of the Giza pyramids is remarkably similar to that of the three stars of Orion's belt in the well-known constellation Orion, which was sacred to the Egyptians, who believed it to be the home of the god Osiris and thought the shape of the constellation resembled him. Bauval theorized that the vent was intended to be a channel to direct the pharaoh's soul to Orion, where he would become a god.