The Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid is the highest in Dahshur, and its name of “Red” is due to the reddish rusty colour of its stones. It didn’t use to be this colour, but a beautiful pure white of limestone of Tura, south of modern Cairo. All pyramids had a casing made of this white limestone, which was reused in medieval times. It is the third-largest Egyptian pyramid after those of Khufu and Khafra at Giza.

The Red Pyramid was one of three pyramids built by King Sneferu after the Bent Pyramid, located one kilometre to the south, and the so-called Meidum pyramid. This pyramid may have been started in the 13th year of his reign, taking 10 years to be built.

The visitor can enter the pyramid from an entrance on the northern side, leading to a passageway (a meter in height and a meter in width). It then slopes down to another gallery into a chamber with a corbelled roof, similar to an inverted stairway. Another passage leads to a second chamber located in the middle of the pyramid, directly at the western end of that chamber. To the south of it, a passageway leads to a third chamber, which is believed to have been the pyramid’s burial chamber.