Dahshur Pyramids

The pyramids at Dahshur, about 40 kilometres south of Cairo, are less famous than Giza but in some ways more interesting — they represent the experimental phase of pyramid building, when Egyptian architects were still working out how to build reliably. The two main pyramids here are the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid, both built by Sneferu, father of the Great Pyramid's builder Khufu.

The Red Pyramid is the first true smooth-sided pyramid — it was built after the Bent Pyramid's angle was corrected, and it worked. Visitors can descend into the interior, a long, steep passage into a series of corbelled chambers with a distinctive smell of ancient stone. The site is far less visited than Giza, and on a weekday morning you may have it almost to yourself.

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The Bent Pyramid is the only pyramid in Egypt where both the casing stones and the interior are largely intact — it was never quarried for building material because its unusual shape made it structurally suspicious. The angle changes midway up from 54 degrees to 43 degrees, a correction apparently made when the builders realized the original angle would cause the structure to collapse. It is the clearest evidence we have of ancient Egyptian architects learning as they built.

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