Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid is built at the same shallow 43-degree angle as the upper section of the Bent Pyramid, which gives it a noticeably squat appearance compared to other Egyptian pyramids of comparable scale. It lies approximately one kilometre (0.62 mi) to the north of the Bent Pyramid.

The entrance is high on the north side. A passage, 3 feet (0.91 m) in height and 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, slopes down at 27° for 200 feet (61 m) to the start of a short horizontal passage, which leads into a chamber whose corbelled roof is 40 feet (12 m) high and rises in eleven steps. A second passage leads into a second chamber, similar to the first, which lies directly beneath the apex of the pyramid. A third and final chamber, with a corbelled roof 50 feet (15 m) high, is reached through an entrance high in the southern wall of the second. The first two chambers have their long axis aligned north-south; the long axis of the third is aligned east-west.

The Red Pyramid was the third pyramid built by Sneferu. Construction is believed to have begun during the thirtieth year of his reign (c. 2590 BCE). Egyptologists disagree on how long it took: on the basis of quarry marks found at various phases of construction, Rainer Stadelmann estimates approximately 17 years, while Rolf Krauss, using the same graffiti, suggests 10–11 years, an estimate later supported by John Romer.

Its design may be an outcome of the engineering difficulties met in Sneferu's two earlier pyramids. The Pyramid at Meidum collapsed in antiquity, and the inclination of the Bent Pyramid was altered from 54 to 43 degrees part-way through construction.