Overview

  • Features: 
  • Opening Times: 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, daily
  • Best Time to Visit: Early mornings
  • Duration: 30 mins to 1 hr
  • Travelled By: On the Go Tours
  • Cost:
  • Address: Giza Necropolis, Egypt
  • Type: Monument

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What We Liked

Youngest Pyramid on Plateau

What We Disliked

‘Smaller’ Than the Other Two

Summary

The last pyramid built on the Giza Plateau, the Pyramid of Menkaure (also known as Mycerinus) is the smallest of the trio. It stands at 62m (originally 66.5m) and has a base area less than a quarter of that of its two neighbours.

Pyramid of Menkaure

 

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The last pyramid built on the Giza Plateau, the Pyramid of Menkaure (also known as Mycerinus) is the smallest of the trio. It stands at 62m (originally 66.5m) and has a base area less than a quarter of that of its two neighbours.

Some attribute the smaller pyramid size of Menkaure to a reduction in the power of the king. However, others point to a change in priorities; the size of the pyramid has been reduced but its valley and mortuary temples are larger and more elaborate. This can perhaps be viewed as the start of a process that eventually saw pyramids abandoned, in favour of secret, rock-cut tombs with separate large, funerary temples.

If you look closely at the north face of the pyramid, you will notice a gash. In the 12th century, Othman Ibn Yusuf, one of Cairo’s sultans and Salah el Din’s son, attempted to dismantle this pyramid. After eight months the project was abandoned, merely having achieved the vertical scar visible on the north face.

 

Menkaure’s Funerary Temple

Outside the pyramid you’ll see the excavated remains of Menkaure’s funerary temple and, further east, the ruins of his valley temple, less excavated.

 

Inside the Pyramid of Menkaure

Inside the pyramid, a passageway descends from the entrance to an antechamber decorated with a stylised false-door motif. Beyond that is another antechamber, from where a passage leads down to the tomb chamber carved from the bedrock. Its barrel-ceiling is carved from a giant granite roof slab. A beautifully decorated sarcophagus was discovered here in the early 19th century but it was lost at sea while being shipped to the British Museum in London.

The Pyramid of Menkaure is situated at a distance from its neighbours. In addition, visitors are no longer allowed inside the pyramid, which are two good reasons to skip this pyramid.

 

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