Khufu inherited a tradition of ambitious pyramid building from his father Sneferu, whose projects explored the possibilities of the true pyramid form. At Giza, Khufu's builders raised the largest of the plateau's three principal royal pyramids. The sides of its base are about 230 metres long, and its original height was approximately 146.5 metres. Its faces were oriented very closely to the cardinal directions. Local limestone supplied much of the core, while fine limestone from Tura formed the outer casing and granite from Aswan was used in important internal spaces. The exact appearance of the lost summit cannot be reconstructed with certainty. What survives is enough to show a project in which geometry, material supply and royal ambition were closely coordinated.

The pyramid was a tomb within a larger funerary complex. A mortuary temple stood on its eastern side, linked by a causeway to facilities closer to the valley, while smaller pyramids and other burials surrounded the king's monument. Calling it Khufu's horizon did not make it something other than a tomb. The name belongs to the religious purpose of royal burial: the dead king was expected to enter a transformed existence associated with the sun and the imperishable stars. Ra and the solar journey formed part of the wider beliefs through which Egyptians understood that transformation. Architecture, offerings and the continued service of priests worked together to sustain royal life beyond death.

Construction required more than one brilliant design. Quarry workers, masons, transport crews, administrators and people responsible for food and other supplies all contributed to the undertaking. Hemiunu, a high official of Khufu with responsibility for royal works, is often identified as a likely leading figure in the project, although the full division of responsibility cannot be recovered. Archaeological evidence for settlements, provisioning and named work crews replaces the simplistic image of anonymous masses working without organisation. It does not justify describing every worker as either a chained slave or a freely paid employee in the modern sense. Estimates of the building time vary, and a precise twenty-year timetable or an exclusively seasonal labour force should not be treated as certain.

The interior contains several distinct spaces connected by passages. A descending route leads into the bedrock beneath the pyramid, where a subterranean chamber was left unfinished. An ascending passage connects with the soaring, corbelled Grand Gallery and with the chamber conventionally called the Queen's Chamber. That modern name does not establish that a queen was buried there. Higher in the monument lies the granite-lined King's Chamber and its surviving sarcophagus. Above it, a sequence of relieving spaces helps distribute the enormous load. Narrow shafts extend from the upper chambers, and their practical or symbolic purposes continue to be discussed. The existence of these features is clear; a complete account of every design decision is not.

The King's Chamber does not contain an identified mummy of Khufu, and its coffer survives without an intact royal burial. This absence should not turn the entire monument into a structure without a known funerary context. The surrounding complex, the royal names and work marks, and the development of Egyptian pyramid architecture all place it within that tradition. Red-painted marks found in the relieving chambers during the investigations of 1837 include Khufu's name and evidence of work-crew organisation. They are not a literary narrative of his life, but they provide a direct connection with the construction project. Ancient disturbance and later entry also mean that the pyramid cannot be imagined as a sealed, untouched room opened for the first time in the medieval period.

Greek and Roman writers measured the monument against their own expectations of power and wonder. Herodotus, Diodorus and Strabo described its scale, reported explanations of its construction and repeated stories about its builders. These accounts belong to the pyramid's later reception, centuries after Khufu. The surviving literary lists of wonders also developed over time; no single poet should simply be credited with inventing the first list and placing this pyramid first upon it. Medieval traditions associated an intrusive entrance tunnel with the caliph al-Ma'mun, while later removal of casing stone altered the monument's exterior. The remaining patches and scars of ancient stonework belong to a long history of use, alteration and exposure.

Modern investigation has added measurements and material evidence to the older stories. Flinders Petrie's surveys made the pyramid's dimensions and workmanship subjects of systematic study rather than inexplicable marvels. In 1954, a sealed pit beside the pyramid revealed the dismantled timbers of a large wooden boat, carefully stored for royal use beyond death and subsequently reassembled. Such discoveries connect the monument with shipbuilding, carpentry, ritual preparation and the movement of materials. They remind us that the pyramid was part of a working landscape. Its builders left evidence that can be studied, even where no written instruction manual for the entire project survives.

In 2017, the ScanPyramids collaboration reported a large void above the Grand Gallery using observations of cosmic-ray muons. These particles allow differences in the amount of stone along their paths to be detected without opening the monument. The reported void extends for at least thirty metres, but its discovery did not establish its function or prove that it was an undiscovered royal burial chamber. Further muon research published in 2023 characterised a separate corridor near the north face. The two findings should not be conflated. Modern discoveries deepen understanding by adding testable evidence, not by making every new space an answer to a mystery it has not yet explained.