Meidum Pyramid

Meidum was begun as a step pyramid, probably for Huni and finished by Sneferu, and then converted into a true pyramid by filling the steps and adding an outer casing. That outer skin failed. What stands now is a three-stage stone tower rising out of a great skirt of collapsed debris, a shape unlike anything else in Egypt and a very direct illustration of what happens when a new structural idea does not hold. Whether the collapse happened during construction or centuries later is still argued. A steep passage leads down and then up into a small corbelled burial chamber that visitors can enter. Nearby mastabas produced the painted Meidum geese, among the finest surviving Old Kingdom paintings, and the Rahotep and Nofret statues now in Cairo.

What you actually see

• The three-stage tower - the pyramid core standing out of its own rubble.
• The debris skirt - the collapsed outer casing heaped around the base.
• The corbelled burial chamber - entered by a steep internal passage.
• Mastaba fields - the tombs that produced the Meidum geese painting.

When to go

October to April. Two hours on site, but it is a two-hour drive each way from Cairo, so it is a full day unless combined with the Faiyum. Mornings are best for photographing the tower against clean light.

Honest expectations

The internal passage is steep, low and airless, and the climb back out is harder than it looks. There are no facilities and few visitors, so the guard will expect a tip. The drive is long and the road ordinary. It makes most sense combined with the Faiyum pyramids rather than alone.

Nearby

Hawara and Lahun pyramids lie west toward the Faiyum; Dahshur is north.