Meidum Pyramid

The Meidum Pyramid can be found about 100 km south of modern Cairo, 48 km south of Memphis.

It was 93 meters high and created with a square base 114 meters long. Its entrance, built about 30 meters above ground level, in the northern part of the pyramid, leads to a corridor descending 54 meters. In its final form, the structure was about 95 m in height.

The structure, apparently, was conceived as a step pyramid, and its central square was supposed to form both the core and the peak of the pyramid. Around it, the builders added a sequence of six layers, each of which was inclined at an angle of 75 degrees to the core of the structure. All layers were covered with white limestone, however, the last layer, therefore, did not rest on solid rock, but on three layers of limestone blocks and sand.

The pyramid was unstable: its heavy outer layers were completely destroyed. It is not known exactly when this collapse occurred. It is believed that the construction partially collapsed by the time of the New Kingdom, around 1550 BC. e.

The important thing is that this pyramid-like structure seems to have never been completed. For example, the burial temple, located under the rubble at the base of the pyramid, was actually never completed. Archaeologists have discovered that two unwritten churches and a burial chamber inside the pyramid itself were not completed. Also, wooden supports were found, which are usually removed after construction. Today, the “destroyed” pyramid of Meidum hardly resembles a pyramid.

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