The pyramids of Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu), Khafre (Khafra) and Mykerin (Menkaur) are considered the most famous in Egypt. We will talk about them. These pyramids belong to the period of the IV dynasty and have a strictly geometric, pyramidal shape, not stepped.

What did the pyramids look like

These huge structures have stood for thousands of years. But they have changed during this time – mostly due to the builders’ use of popular materials that people then simply disassembled, as well as loot.

What did the pyramids look like when they were first built?

When ancient Egyptian pyramids were built, both at Giza and elsewhere, they didn’t look sandy brown, as is often the case today. They were covered with a shiny layer of sedimentary rock.

All the pyramids were covered with fine white limestone.
– says Mohamed Megahed, associate professor at the Czech Egyptology Institute at Charles University in Prague.

The limestone pavement gave the pyramids a smooth, polished surface that glowed bright white under the Egyptian sun.

This is what the pyramids looked like thousands of years ago / Digital reconstruction by Budget Direct

According to the National Museum of Scotland, the builders used around 6.1 million tons of limestone during the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza (Cheops) alone. However, its facing stones were later redesigned for other construction work during the reigns of the next rulers. The same thing happened with most of the shells of other pyramids.

Preserved fragments of the front of the pyramid and the remains of the surrounding paving stones / Photo: Rigelus / Wikimedia

• There are still remnants of facing stone around the top of Pharaoh Khafre’s pyramid, giving the impression that a second hill was placed on top of the first.
• In ancient Egypt, there was also a red granite vault on the lower floors of this pyramid.
• The third and smallest of the three main pyramids at Giza, the Pyramid of Mykerinus, also had a red granite vault around its lower rings.

Today there is nothing on the tops of the pyramids, but originally there were capstones covered with a mixture of gold and silver.. They looked like miniature (in comparison) pointed pyramids at their tops. Many have been lost over time, but there are a few surviving examples in museums. These examples show that religious images were engraved on the pyramids.