Khafre was the son of Khufu. Khafre’s Pyramid is now 136m tall, although when finished it was 144m. Each side of the base is 215m and the sides slope at just over 53°. It is the second largest pyramid (after Khufu’s pyramid).

When you look at these two giant pyramids, Khafre’s pyramid seems the taller of the two, but that is because it was built on a stone platform 10m higher than Khufu’s pyramid.

You can tell Khafre’s pyramid because it has a small amount of limestone facing on the top, and by the fact that the Sphinx is directly in front of it. When it was completed, it would have had a small pyramid stone on top to complete the shape. This stone would have been covered in gold leaf and would have shone out like a beacon in the strong sunlight of the desert.

As with all of the major pyramids, there is little to be found inside because they were robbed out by ancient Egyptians during Middle Kingdom times. Even part of the casing was stripped off by ancient Egyptians. New Kingdom pharaoh Ramesses II ordered it to be used to make a new temple nearby. Most of the rest was shaken off by an earthquake.

The stones that make the pyramid are largest at the base and become smaller to the top.

The pyramid has one chamber, partly cut into the rock on which the pyramid sits, and partly within the pyramid stones. This chamber is 14m by 5m. This contained the sarcophagus, which was carved out of solid granite.

The pyramid was once enclosed in a courtyard sealed off by a wall.