Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid was built around 2590 BCE by Pharaoh Sneferu, founder of the Fourth Dynasty and the most prolific pyramid builder in Egyptian history. It represents the successful culmination of experiments that included failures at Meidum and necessary compromises at the Bent Pyramid.

Sneferu came to the throne as the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, inheriting both the ambition and the technology of his Third Dynasty predecessors. His building program would consume more stone than any other pharaoh's, producing three or possibly four pyramids in the course of his reign. The first, at Meidum, was originally a step pyramid that Sneferu later attempted to convert to a true pyramid. This conversion appears to have caused structural problems—portions of the outer casing collapsed, leaving the peculiar tower-like structure visible today. The second, the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, began at an ambitious 54° angle but developed problems partway through construction. At the 47-meter mark, the builders made an extraordinary decision: they reduced the angle to 43° and completed the pyramid at this shallower slope. The result was a visually distinctive structure, but not the perfect true pyramid the builders had sought. The Red Pyramid was Sneferu's third attempt. Using the 43° angle proven stable at the Bent Pyramid's upper section, his builders constructed the entire pyramid at this consistent slope. The gamble paid off. The Red Pyramid stood without problems—the first true smooth-sided pyramid to do so. This success established the engineering knowledge that Sneferu's son Khufu would apply to build the Great Pyramid at Giza.