Egypt to open inner chambers of Bent Pyramid
Image via WikipediaTravelers to Egypt will soon be able to explore the inner chambers of the 4,500-year-old Bent Pyramid.
Egypt’s chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the 330-foot-high (100-meter) pyramid outside the village of Dashur, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Cairo, will be opened for the first time to tourists within the next month or two.
Dashur’s Bent Pyramid is famous for its irregular profile. The sides rise at a steep angle, then half way up the massive structure they abruptly taper off at a more shallow approach to the pyramid’s apex. Archaeologists believe the pyramid-builders changed their minds while constructing it out of fear the whole structure might collapse because the sides were too steep. The pyramid is entered through a cramped 80 meter-long (260-foot) tunnel that opens into an immense vaulted chamber. From there, passageways lead to other rooms. One of the chambers has cedar wood beams believed to have been imported from ancient Lebanon.
Hawass added that archaeologists believe that somewhere within the Bent Pyramid, 4th dynasty founder Pharaoh Sneferu’s burial chamber lies undiscovered.
The nearby Red Pyramid, also built by Sneferu, is already accessible to visitors. Hawass said several other nearby pyramids, including one with an underground labyrinth from the Middle Kingdom, would also be opened in the next year.
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