2007
KHUFU Revealed
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On March 30, an exceptional press conference is held at The Géode, attended by over 75 journalists from the press, radio and television, and hundreds of guests including the Egyptian Ambassador to Paris. After being opened by Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Systèmes and Mehdi Tayoubi, project director, the 3D animation "Khufu Revealed" is projected in 3D, piloted in real time by Fabien Barati and commented live by Richard Breitner and Jean-Pierre Houdin. On the 400m2 screen, spectators wearing 3D glasses relive the construction site of Khufu’s Pyramid for over an hour, a technical world first.
The fallout from this press conference exceed all expectations, even the wildest: within 24 hours, the news spread around the world, with hundreds of newspapers picking up the story as they went to press, depending on the time zone. The 3 major French news channels, TF1, Fr2 and Fr3, report the news at 8pm or 1pm. The next morning, the major American network ABC covers the event in "Good Morning America". 3 days after the Géode, more than 500 newspapers and websites covered the event, with the subject on the front pages of Yahoo and Google for several hours. Mehdi Tayoubi's gamble paid off: overnight, the theory found itself at the forefront of the news and has now become the "standard" for pyramid construction.
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On April 11, the Khufu Team (Richard Breitner, Emmanuel Guerriero, Jean-Pierre Houdin), the President of the Tourist Office and Dr. Hawass meet in Cairo for a very private diner organized by Essam El-Maghraby, director of the Egyptian Misr studios; a 3D presentation of "Khufu Revealed" is given, with individual headphones, and discussions focuse on the possibility of showing this 3D animation at the base of the pyramids as a prelude to a mission. Dr. Hawass invites the Team to return shortly to give a large-screen demonstration to the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the presence of "expert" Egyptologists.
At the end of April, the highly reputed American "Archaeology Magazine" publishes a very long article written by Dr. Bob Brier on the theory, with the subject on the cover.
On May 7, back in Cairo, the Khufu Team (Mehdi Tayoubi, Fabien Barati, Jean-Pierre Houdin) presents the 3D animation "Khufu Revealed" in the room of the Supreme Council of Antiquities; Dr. Hawass, Dr. Mark Lehner, Prof. Dr. Rainer Stadelmann and Dr. Alain Zivie are the only ones present for this demonstration. The Khufu Team will never have direct news following this meeting.
In mid-July, Dr Mourad M. Bakhoum, a graduate engineer from MIT (USA) and Cairo's Faculty of Engineering, and a fervent supporter of the theory, sends Jean-Pierre Houdin an article written by Dr Hawass and published in the Al-Ahram newspaper on July 7. He doesn’t follow up the project discussed 2 months earlier.
Public performances of "Khufu Revealed" follow one another at the Géode, attracting huge crowds. The 3D animation is also presented in several cities, including La Rochelle on June 27 and Monaco on October 4. Reactions are always very positive.
In addition to the ongoing support of Dassault Systèmes, and following a year rich in media coverage, the ACGP also receives backing from several new patrons.
Regarding the theory, Jean-Pierre Houdin is now convinced that the pyramid's designers used a grid system to design the pyramid's plans and transmit instructions to the construction site. A primary grid of 20 cubits by 20 cubits for the volume itself, a secondary grid of 1 cubit by 1 cubit for all internal structures, which are grouped in a narrow band along the North/South axis.