Red Pyramid

Welcome to Dahshur, the royal necropolis of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Sneferu. Before you stands the Red Pyramid, also known as the North Pyramid. …

Standing here at the north face of the Red Pyramid, you can see its sister structure, the Bent Pyramid, in the distance. The relationship between these two is vital to understanding the history of the site. …

We now begin our descent into the pyramid. The entrance is located high on the north face, and from here, a narrow wooden staircase leads down into a long, sloping shaft. …

At the end of the long descent, the space suddenly opens up into the first of two nearly identical antechambers. The most striking feature here is the ceiling. …

To reach the final burial chamber, you must climb a modern wooden staircase about 7 meters up into a passage high in the wall of the second antechamber. This third room is the largest and most impressive. …

As you exit the pyramid and return to the surface, take another look at its profile. The Red Pyramid’s slope is notably shallower than the Giza pyramids—43 degrees compared to Giza's 51 degrees. …

Near the base of the pyramid, you may find a reconstructed pyramidion, the capstone that once sat at the very peak of the structure. It was discovered in the rubble around the base and has been partially restored. …

Our visit to the Red Pyramid of Dahshur brings us to the end of one of the most important chapters in human engineering. Sneferu, through his persistence and willingness to learn from failure, transformed the experimental tiers…