Pyramid of Sahure

The pyramid of Sahure (Egyptian: Ḫꜥỉ-bꜣ Sꜣḥw-Rꜥ, lit. 'Rising of the ba of Sahure') is the funerary monument built for the Egyptian pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty in the late 26th to 25th century BC. This initiated a period of pyramid building by Sahure's successors in Abusir, on a location earlier used by Userkaf for his sun temple. The site was first properly excavated by Ludwig Borchardt between March 1907 and 1908, who wrote the standard work Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahu-Re ('The Funerary Monument of King Sahure') between 1910 and 1913. The pyramid complex's layout was adopted by succeeding kings of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties, marking a milestone in pyramid complex construction. Compared to the preceding Fourth Dynasty, the immensity of the constructions was dramatically reduced but, in tandem, the decorative programme proliferated and temples were augmented by enlarged storeroom complexes. The complex is estimated to have had 10,000 m2 (110,000 ft2) of finely carved relief adorning its walls, of which 150 m2 (1,600 ft2) has been preserved. Some of these reliefs are considered unparalleled in Egyptian art, such as the 8 m (26 ft) by 3 m (9.8 ft) hunting scene from the mortuary temple. For comparison, Sahure's temple contained 370 running metres (1,214 running feet) of such relief decoration, while the temple of Khufu's Great Pyramid contained 100 running metres (

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).