We’ve all heard of the Pyramids of Giza—thousands of years old, and just about the most famous structures on the planet. Yet ancient Egypt doesn’t own the pyramid game; humanity has been riffing on the basic shape for millennia, adding all sorts of creative twists. In this roundup we present the 10 greatest alternative pyramids ever imagined or constructed (including a few that never quite made it off the drawing board):
Why These 10 Greatest Alternative Pyramids Matter
10 The English Pyramid of Death
Thomas Willson, a forward‑thinking Londoner in 1829, imagined a colossal pyramid mausoleum that could hold five million bodies. His design would have towered ninety‑four stories—taller than the Chrysler Building’s seventy‑seven floors—and sat smack‑dab in the heart of the capital. Willson pitched the structure as a tidy, hygienic, and eye‑catching solution to graveyard overcrowding, even expecting picnickers to stroll beneath its shadow while it generated a tidy ten‑million‑pound profit.
Not everyone was sold. A historian later dismissed the scheme as a “nightmarish combination of megalomaniacal Neo‑Classicism and dehumanised Utilitarian efficiency,” essentially calling it a terrible idea. Public sentiment soured, and Londoners apparently preferred green parks to a towering “pyramid of death,” sealing the project’s fate before a single stone was laid.
9 The Roman Pyramid of Cestius
When Rome annexed Egypt, the empire fell under the spell of the Egyptian necropolis. Gaius Cestius, a Roman magistrate, commissioned a 121‑foot (37‑metre) pyramid in his own honour—an unmistakable nod to the Egyptian style. The structure still stands in the city’s fabric, a testament to Rome’s brief fascination with pyramid building.
Unfortunately, like many ancient tombs, Cestius’s pyramid was looted in antiquity, leaving its original contents scattered and its legacy a cautionary tale about the perils of ostentatious burial architecture.
8 The Upside‑Down Underground Pyramid
Mexico City’s dense streets left architects with a quandary: how to erect a sixty‑five‑storey pyramid without choking the skyline? Their answer was to flip the idea upside‑down, sinking a massive pyramid beneath a glass‑topped plaza. The proposal envisions offices, homes and shops descending deep underground, letting the city’s historic roots surface for all to see.
Backed by a projected $800 million budget, the design also promises to “dig down through the layers of cities to uncover our roots.” While the concept is daring, municipal enthusiasm remains tepid, and the project has yet to break ground.
7 The Great Pyramid of Cholula
Most people assume the Giza pyramids are the world’s largest, but Mexico’s Great Pyramid of Cholula dwarfs them in volume. Though not as tall, this massive earthen mound spreads over a wider footprint, built layer by layer from the third century BC through the ninth AD by successive Mesoamerican cultures.
Today the pyramid is cloaked in vegetation, masquerading as a hill, with a 16th‑century Spanish church perched atop its summit—a striking blend of pre‑Columbian engineering and colonial architecture.
6 The Nubian Pyramids of Sudan
While Egypt commands most of the pyramid spotlight, Sudan boasts over 250 Nubian pyramids, constructed primarily in the third century BC—centuries after Egypt’s final pyramids were raised. These slender, steep‑sided monuments range from six to thirty‑six metres in height.
Many of Sudan’s pyramids have only recently been uncovered, suggesting either a remarkable ancient knack for concealment or modern archaeologists’ bias toward flashier sites. Their discovery continues to reshape our understanding of pyramid distribution in ancient Africa.
5 The Pyramid Mausoleum of China’s First Emperor
Built between 246 BC and 208 BC, the First Emperor’s mausoleum is a massive underground complex riddled with lethal traps. Legend says 700,000 laborers toiled on it, and that the emperor ordered childless concubines—and even workers—to be buried alive to guard his afterlife palace.
The site still harbours a mercury‑filled moat, with dangerous mercury levels recorded millennia later. Chinese authorities have hesitated to fully excavate, citing insufficient archaeological technology—or perhaps a healthy respect for the ancient security system.
4 The Upside‑Down Slovakian Pyramid
In 1983, architects in Bratislava designed the Slovak Radio Building to soar 262 feet (80 m) into the sky. However, a misinterpretation of the blueprints turned the structure into an inverted pyramid, giving the concert hall a precarious, upside‑down silhouette that seems ready to tumble at any moment.
3 The Giant Pyramid of German WWI Helmets
After World War I, captured German helmets were stacked into a towering pyramid at New York’s Grand Central Terminal. The macabre monument celebrated victory, but would likely raise eyebrows if erected today.
Historically, such displays echo older, far more gruesome practices—like Tamerlane’s infamous pyramid of 90,000 skulls, constructed to intimidate besieged foes.
2 The German Pyramid of Death
In 2007, German entrepreneurs unveiled plans for a 1,900‑foot (580 m) multicoloured pyramid intended to house the cremated remains of up to forty million people. For a modest fee, individuals could purchase a coloured block to encase their ashes after death.
The venture secured €115,000 in government funding, but local opposition and waning interest stalled the project. The idea remains a striking, if controversial, vision of monumental memorialization.
1 The Mars Pyramid
NASA’s Curiosity rover captured an oddly pyramid‑shaped rock on Mars, sparking speculation that the planet hosts structures reminiscent of Earth’s ancient monuments. Scientists attribute the shape to wind erosion, yet fringe theorists claim it as evidence of ancient Martian architects.
Regardless of speculation, the formation is roughly the size of a football, reminding us that even other worlds can echo humanity’s love of the pyramid silhouette.