Saqqara

Saqqara is the vast necropolis serving the ancient capital of Memphis and contains monuments spanning more than three millennia of Egyptian history. Its best-known monument is the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built in the 27th century BCE by or for Pharaoh Djoser and designed by the architect Imhotep.

Beyond the Step Pyramid, Saqqara includes the Serapeum underground galleries for Apis bull burials, multiple Old Kingdom mastaba tombs with high-quality reliefs, and later pyramids such as those of Teti and Unas, the latter preserving early Pyramid Texts. The site is archaeologically dense and has been the focus of ongoing excavation and restoration work.

The complex developed from Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom burial traditions and continued to be used and adapted in Middle Kingdom and later periods. Many monuments at Saqqara illustrate key innovations in funerary architecture and funerary religion.

Saqqara lies on the west bank of the Nile near the modern city of Giza and serves as the funerary necropolis for ancient Memphis; it is visited on short drives from Cairo and Giza.

• Architectural significance: The Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara, attributed to Pharaoh Djoser and architect Imhotep, represents the transition from mastaba tombs to monumental stone pyramids in Egypt.
• Earliest Pyramid Texts: Some pyramids and tombs at Saqqara contain the earliest examples of carved Pyramid Texts and richly decorated mastaba tombs open to visitors on guided tours.

What to See #

• Step Pyramid of Djoser: Step Pyramid of Djoser - a six-stepped limestone pyramid designed by the architect Imhotep, built in the 27th century BCE and regarded as the earliest large-scale stone monument.
• Serapeum: Serapeum - an underground complex of galleries used for the burial of Apis bulls, rediscovered and excavated in the 19th century.
• Mastabas and later pyramids: Numerous Old Kingdom mastabas and later shaft tombs, including the pyramids and pyramid complexes of later kings such as Teti and Unas with early Pyramid Texts.