Sunway Pyramid

Sunway Pyramid was designed by the design director of Sunway, Nelson Yong. After several architects were unable to meet expectations for the building's façade, Yong assumed responsibility for the interior design and architectural concept. According to Yong, he immediately had an inspiration and sketched the iconic lion head, the pyramid and roughly how the building facade would look like after meeting with Sunway's chairman, Tan Sri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah. The shopping mall was opened in July 1997. The mall was constructed and designed in the Egyptian Revival architectural style, with a prominent giant lion statue in the main entrance. This statue was designed to resemble the Great Sphinx of Giza with the large pyramid behind it. According to various sources, the face of the statue was actually intended to be a face of a man, with some resemblance to the founder and current chairman of the Sunway Group, Tan Sri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah. Once the government heard about it, they rejected the proposal citing religious conflicts between the ancient religion of Egypt and modern-day Islam. This story was reportedly confirmed by Cheah himself.