Djoser's pyramid
The oldest great stone building.
Fora do Eixo — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gerd Eichmann — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean-Pierre Dalbéra — CC BY 2.0 · Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0 · Ovedc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ocean Star — CC BY 3.0
The vast necropolis of ancient Memphis on a desert plateau south of Giza, at whose heart stands the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the first pyramid built in Egypt and the oldest monumental stone building in history, raised by the architect Imhotep for King Djoser in the twenty-seventh century BC, about a century before the pyramids of Giza. The pyramid is made of six stacked steps that shrink towards the top and stands about sixty-two metres high, surrounded by a vast funerary complex with a stone enclosure wall, a columned entrance, courtyards and symbolic buildings. Its interior has been restored and parts reopened to visitors in recent years, so you can see the passages and shafts beneath it. Saqqara also holds many tombs of Old Kingdom officials with superb painted reliefs of daily life, among them the tombs of Mereruka and Ti, the Pyramid of Unas, whose inner walls carry the oldest known religious texts, and the Serapeum with its giant stone sarcophagi for the sacred bulls. The general site ticket costs a foreign visitor about six hundred Egyptian pounds according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities list, with extra fees for some tombs and the Serapeum, and it opens from eight to five. Saqqara is usually combined in one day with Dahshur and Mit Rahina, and it is far less crowded than Giza.
The oldest great stone building.
Painted scenes of daily life.
Giant bull sarcophagi.
Saqqara, Giza, about thirty kilometres south of Cairo
Yes: Djoser's pyramid is older than the Giza pyramids, Saqqara's tombs hold painted reliefs you will not see at Giza, and it is far quieter.