The Khafre pyramid

The Khafre pyramid

The Khafre's pyramid is located southwest of those of his father, and thus in the middle of the three pyramids of Giza on a terrace. The stages of the northwest corner of the base are carved about 10 meters into the rock, the opposite southeast corner has been massively hochgemauert to compensate for the slight incline of the terrace. The quarry for building materials is right on the spot. The horizontal pipe are roughly trimmed layers of stone, the joints were very broad, and often lack the mortar, the pyramidal core is crafted out significantly worse than the Cheops pyramid.
The cladding of the two lower layers consisted of granite, limestone cladding further.
At the top of Khafre's pyramid are still remnants of the panel present, the Pyramidion no longer exists.

Due to the progressive erosion of the preserved limestone cladding was investigated by Italian experts. On this occasion, a huge shift of the corner edges were recorded and calculated by computer simulation of the cause: an earthquake.
Already in the 19th Dynasty Ramses II has begun with the stone robbery. He used the limestone cladding for the construction of a temple in Heliopolis (rock carvings of the head of the temple works Maj).
Between the years 1356 and 1362 to more distant parts of the cladding for the construction of the Hassan mosque in Cairo.

The fragment
Cross section of the Pyramid of Khafre

Descending the pyramid has two entrances in the north. Both are on top and the bottom begins 30 meters outside the building at ground level, the upper 11.5 m above the base. The lower passage leads into a horizontal tunnel, which defines a secondary chamber forks (10.41 × 3.12 m, 2.61 m high). It is believed that this chamber, the same function as the so-called Queen's Chamber in the Cheops pyramid had. Behind the horizontal tunnel, the passage rises again and hits just below ground level to the second coming from the top access. The now common corridor now runs horizontal to the grave chamber in the center of the structure.

The grave chamber measuring 14.15 × 5 m and has a height of 6.83 m. The ceiling consists of powerful, sloping limestone beams, the walls are already in place from bedrock. Until Belzonis graffito the chamber is blank and only contains the sarcophagus of granite, which is half sunk into the ground. The sliding cover was broken in the chamber, discovered bones were from bulls. A small pit in the ground probably hid the jars.

It is likely that the pyramid has been stripped for the first time in the First Intermediate Period. The historian Ibn Abd as-Salam noted a further opening of the pyramid in the year 774 after the Islamic calendar (= 1372 AD), but this seems to have been closed again.

On 2 March 1818 was the grave chamber of Belzoni rediscovered. Opposite the magnificent system of the chamber of the Cheops Chephren but has rather simple - unless, through recent research further chambers were discovered in the core masonry.