Pyramid with Valley Temple

The pyramid is a construction form with a square base and is well-known in various ancient cultures. A typical Egyptian pyramid consisted of various construction elements. The pyramid itself was the centre of a sacred complex. In its interior there were corridors and a burial chamber. A causeway led from the pyramid to the valley temple on the banks of the Nile. The valley temple consisted of an entrance hall, a hypostyle hall and a room with statues, shrines and store rooms. It was here that the deceased king was revered as a god. The members of the king’s family were buried in the small pyramids nearby (so-called “satellite pyramids”). Tombs of royal officials were also situated nearby.

Limestone, granite and sandstone were used for the construction of the pyramids. Even up to the present time we do not know for sure how the workers transported the building material onto the growing pyramid. One theory is that a ramp was constructed round the pyramid in order to pull the stones up to the level they were working at. The exact number of Egyptian pyramids is not known. The largest and most famous pyramid is the Pyramid of Cheops (also known as Khufu) in Giza with a base area of 52,900 m² and its original height was 146.60 m. According to tradition, 70,000 to 100,000 workers are said to have worked on the construction of the Cheops Pyramid. Current research tends to assume that there were about 8,000 workers. Very little is known about the legal status of the workers. Researchers believe that the majority of the workers were not slaves. For example, workers from Lower Egypt were employed in the construction of the pyramid. A special department for the distribution of workers was partly responsible for the supply and provision of the workers.

In archaeology there are many theories for the construction of cult sites in the shape of pyramids. The most probable theory is that pyramids stood for the Egyptian belief in Creation. Thus, the pyramid represented the Primary Hill, from where – according to Egyptian mythology – all Creation came into being. Another theory assumes that the Egyptians considered the shafts of sunlight as they opened up and became visible through a blanket of light clouds to be a divine sign and they reconstructed this in the form of pyramids.

Perhaps, however, pyramids were meant to symbolise the stairway to heaven. In this way, deceased kings were able to reach the sun god Ra. There is also the theory that step pyramids represented the structure of society in Ancient Egypt. However, pyramids are also often only considered to be an architectural further development. Originally, so-called mastabas – flat, rectangular structures – served as burial chambers. The first step pyramid was created for King Djoser. It was from this form that later the pyramids developed to the shape as we know them today.

This model shows a typical Egyptian pyramid complex with valley temple, causeway, funerary temple, main pyramid and satellite pyramids. A segment of the main pyramid can be taken out so that one can look at the corridors inside the pyramid.