A stepped tower
The core above the rubble.
Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0 · Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0 · Marwa elchazly — CC BY-SA 4.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kurohito — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kurohito — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chanel Wheeler — CC BY-SA 2.0
An odd-looking pyramid on the desert edge south of Cairo that looks like a huge stepped tower rising from a mound of rubble; locals call it the false pyramid. It is thought to be the first of King Sneferu's three great pyramids and may have been begun by King Huni, last ruler of the Third Dynasty. It was built in three phases: it began as a step pyramid like Djoser's, was enlarged, and then its steps were filled with a limestone casing to make the first true pyramid. But the outer casing rested on sand rather than rock and collapsed in antiquity, leaving the stepped core standing amid its debris. You can go down a long sloping passage inside to the burial chamber, where ancient wooden beams are still in place. Around the pyramid lie mastabas of high officials, among them that of Nefermaat and Itet, source of the famous Meidum Geese painting now shown in Cairo. A foreign visitor's ticket costs about a hundred and fifty Egyptian pounds according to the ministry list, and it opens from eight to five. It is quiet and little visited, and pairs with a Fayoum trip or with Dahshur and Saqqara.
The core above the rubble.
Ancient wooden beams.
From a nearby mastaba.
Meidum, Beni Suef Governorate, about seventy kilometres south of Cairo
Its outer casing stood on sand and collapsed in antiquity, leaving the stepped core standing amid the rubble.