New rooms discovered in Egyptian pyramid

 PARIS: French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin unveiled in Paris on Thursday the existence of two hidden and so far unknown rooms in Egypt's Great Pyramid.

No one had ever suspected the existence of any such rooms. But in his many visits to Khufu’s king’s chamber, Houdin noticed that one stone element in the burial room was not supporting any weight and therefore had once been a passage.

According to funeral rites of ancient Egypt, kings would be buried with all their belongings in close proximity. In other pyramids these items are situated in a room adjacent to the burial room.

"We announced, unveiled that inside the Khufu Pyramid there
are two antechambers which are part of the Khufu funeral apartments which are unknown and which are very close to the king's chamber so I announce that there are two antechambers in the Khufu pyramid," Jean-Pierre Houdin, French Architect said.

The current entrance use by the pyramid’s many visitors was opened in 820 AD by Caliph Al-Mamoun in his search for Khufu treasure. But he didn't find much and little did he know that the real entrance to the King's chamber was right under his nose. 

"History stops at this event, saying that the robber entered through the door, went all the way to the King's chamber and left. History was not completed because Mamoun got the wrong corridor. The corridor and the antechambers are just behind. Now we need to go and find them. But it's not difficult now to find them," the architect said.

Previous theories suggest that Pharaoh Khufu's tomb was built from the outside in – by using either a vast frontal ramp or a ramp in a corkscrew shape around the exterior to haul up the stonework.Jean-Pierre Houdin said advanced 3D technology has shown the main ramp, which was used to haul the massive stones to the apex, was contained approximately 33–49 feet beneath the outer skin, tracing a pyramid within a pyramid. This shows, says Houdin, that the Great Pyramid was built from the inside out. 

Now, an international team is being assembled to probe the pyramid using radars and heat detecting cameras supplied by a French defense firm, after consent from Egyptian authorities. 

Egyptian authorities have given their consent for an international team to probe the ancient edifice.