The Pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main Giza Pyramids. It was built for King Menkaure, known to the Greeks as Mykerinos, a grandson of Khufu, who ruled around 2530 to 2500 BC.
Giza PyramidsThe pyramid
It was about 65 meters high, less than half the height of the Great Pyramid, but it was the most richly finished: its lower courses were cased in red granite brought from Aswan, and some of it is still in place. A deep vertical gash in the north face was made in 1196, when a sultan tried, and failed, to tear the pyramid down. Three small pyramids for his queens stand to the south.
Statues of Menkaure
Menkaure’s temples held some of the finest sculptures of the Old Kingdom. The famous slate triads show the king with the goddess Hathor and a goddess of one of Egypt’s provinces. A pair statue of the king with his queen is now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. His stone sarcophagus was sent to England in 1838, but the ship sank off Spain and it lies on the sea floor.
Visiting
You can go inside with an extra ticket. The passage is shorter and quieter than in the Great Pyramid. Menkaure’s pyramid is the best foreground for the classic photo from the panorama point on our Cairo day tours.
