OC 013 · Photograph · Africa

The pyramids at Giza, photographed in the 1860s

An old sepia photograph of two pyramids far off across a wide stretch of desert
Photo: Gustave Le Gray, The Met, CC0, via The Met Open Access.
Number on this site
OC 013
What it is
Photograph
Made
1865 to 1869
Made by
Gustave Le Gray
Material
Albumen silver print from a glass negative
Size
31.1 × 41.8 cm
Now held by
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum number
2009.440.3

Two of the Giza pyramids far off across the desert, printed from a glass negative in the 1860s.1

Where it sits in human time

Made about 160 years ago. On this strip, each step to the right is ten times closer to today.

300,000 years ago10,0003,0001,000100nowThe pyramids at Giza, photographed in the 1860s

Seen in

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Sources for this page

Every number on this page comes from one of these. How we check.

Last reviewed 12 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

  1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gustave Le Gray, Pyramides de Gizèh, 1865–69. Collection record 291695, Open Access (CC0). www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/291695Used for: A nineteenth-century photograph of the Giza pyramids. Checked 12 November 2026.