Khafre’s Pyramid

Although not at tall as Khufu’s pyramid, Khafre’s is nevertheless very impressive, standing 471 ft (143.5 m) tall, with an angle of slope of around 53 degrees. In order to disguise the fact that his was smaller, Khafre built his pyramid on a plateau 33 ft (10 m) higher than the base of Khufu’s. At the very top, there is a slight twist, perhaps indicating that the four corner angles were not quite aligned correctly. The top quarter retains its original white tura limestone casing – normally, all this was stripped off by robbers.

There are 2 descending passages leading into the structure – 1 is about 38 ft (11.54 m) above the base on the northern slope, and the other enters at ground level near the centre of the northern side. The latter descends to a horizontal corridor, 5ft 8in (1.7 m) high. Off this corridor there is a small subsidiary chamber, perhaps meant to house the ka statue of the king, or a place where food offerings were put. The burial chamber is at right-angles to the corridors, the sarcophagus within being very close to the central axis of the pyramid. The sarcophagus itself is made of dark granite, half embedded in the floor of the chamber. There is a pit in the floor of the room, probably meant for the canopic chest (containing Khafre’s internal organs). Giovanni Belzoni entered the chamber in 1818, and found some bones within the sarcophagus, but these turned out to belong to a bull.