The original entrance to the Great Pyramid was approximately 17 metres above the pyramid’s base level.
It is located on the pyramid’s north face, slightly east of the centreline. The entrance was built through the 19th layer of masonry, and its height corresponds to the opening of the sloping Descending Passage. That passage runs downward through the pyramid and eventually continues into the bedrock beneath it.
The entrance looks different today because much of the pyramid’s outer casing was removed in the Middle Ages. The original opening was framed by protective chevron stones, which helped divert the enormous weight of the masonry above it. Many of those stones are now missing, but the surviving structure still reveals how the entrance was engineered.
Visitors today generally do not enter through this ancient opening. Modern access uses the Robbers’ Tunnel, a later forced passage cut through the pyramid’s masonry. The two routes meet inside the monument, which is why descriptions of the “entrance” can sometimes refer to different openings.