Wider. Shorter. BIGGER.
Facts about pyramids that are wider and shorter than the Great Pyramid of Giza — and larger overall.
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/ GIZA \ / CHOLULA \
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Taller, narrower Shorter, much wider,
nearly 2x the volume
Giza: tall and narrow
Cholula: wide, low, with a church on top
The Rules Of This Site
To be listed here, a pyramid must meet all three tests against the Great Pyramid of Giza (the Pyramid of Khufu):
- Wider — a longer base side than Giza's 230.3 m (756 ft).
- Shorter — a lower peak height than Giza's original 146.6 m (481 ft).
- Bigger overall — a greater total volume than Giza's roughly 2.58 million cubic metres.
That is a strict standard. Only one confirmed pyramid on Earth passes it.
The Great Pyramid of Cholula (Tlachihualtepetl)
Location: San Pedro Cholula, Puebla, Mexico
Builders: Successive Mesoamerican cultures, beginning around the 3rd century BC and expanding for roughly a thousand years
Name: Tlachihualtepetl is Nahuatl for "made-by-hand mountain"
| Measurement | Cholula | Great Pyramid of Giza |
|---|---|---|
| Base side | ~450 m (1,480 ft) | 230.3 m (756 ft) |
| Base area | ~20 hectares (45+ acres) | ~5.3 hectares (13 acres) |
| Height | ~66 m (217 ft) | 146.6 m (481 ft) original |
| Volume | ~4.45 million m³ | ~2.58 million m³ |
| Material | Adobe brick and earth fill | Limestone and granite blocks |
Drawn to the same scale. Giza on the left, Cholula on the right.
Facts:
- By volume, Cholula is the largest pyramid in the world and the largest monument ever constructed anywhere.
- Its base is nearly four times the area of Giza's, yet it stands at less than half the height.
- It is not one pyramid but at least six, built one on top of another over centuries. Each new stage was raised over the previous one.
- The structure is so wide and low that after it was abandoned it became overgrown and was mistaken for a natural hill.
- In 1594 the Spanish built a church, the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, on its summit. The church is still there, sitting on top of the largest pyramid on Earth.
- Archaeologists have dug about 8 km (5 miles) of exploratory tunnels through the interior, some of which are open to visitors.
- Cholula sits at roughly 2,150 m (7,000 ft) elevation, so the top of the pyramid is over 2,200 m above sea level — far higher than Giza's peak, despite the pyramid itself being much shorter.
Close, But Disqualified
These pyramids are wider or shorter than Giza but do not beat it on total volume, so they do not qualify. Listed for honesty.
| Pyramid | Base side | Height | Volume | Why it fails |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Mexico | ~225 m | ~65 m | ~1.2 million m³ | Shorter, but narrower and less than half the volume |
| Monks Mound, Cahokia, Illinois, USA | ~291 × 236 m | ~30 m | ~0.6 million m³ | Wider and shorter, but far less volume (earthen platform mound) |
| Red Pyramid, Dahshur, Egypt | ~220 m | ~105 m | ~1.7 million m³ | Shorter, but narrower and smaller |
| La Danta, El Mirador, Guatemala | ~600 × 300 m platform | ~72 m | disputed, ~2.8 million m³ claimed | Some estimates exceed Giza, but the figure counts a multi-tier platform complex, not a single pyramid. Unconfirmed. |
La Danta is the only real challenger. If future survey work confirms a single-structure volume above 2.58 million m³, it will be added.
Why Wide And Short Wins On Volume
A pyramid's volume is one third of its base area times its height. Because base area grows with the square of the side length, doubling the width quadruples the base area. Cholula is about twice as wide as Giza and about half as tall, which works out to roughly double the volume. Width matters far more than height.
Formula: V = (1/3) × base area × height
Pyramid Pouches
Wider, shorter, bigger — you get it.
Sources
- Guinness World Records — largest pyramid by volume
- Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Zona Arqueológica de Cholula
- Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. Thames & Hudson, 1997.
- McCafferty, Geoffrey G. "Reinterpreting the Great Pyramid of Cholula, Mexico." Ancient Mesoamerica, 1996.
chodepyramids.com · Facts only. Measurements are approximate and rounded; sources vary by a few percent.
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