The Giza pyramids were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The inscription covers a much broader cultural landscape than the three famous pyramids alone.
UNESCO lists the site as Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur. This expansive World Heritage property includes pyramid fields and related monuments associated with the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, including sites at Giza, Abusir, Saqqara, and Dahshur.
At Giza, the protected archaeological landscape includes the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, temples, cemeteries, and remains connected with the pyramid builders. The monuments were created mainly during the Old Kingdom’s Fourth Dynasty.
A frequent confusion is to treat 1979 as the construction date or as the date of a separate “Giza-only” listing. It is the year UNESCO inscribed the larger Memphis and its Necropolis property, whose northernmost section is the Giza complex.