originally height:   92 m
base length:   c.144 m
slope:   51^o 50' 35"
length of corridor:   57 m
burial chamber:   5.9 x 2.65 m (height: 5.05 m)
height of vertical shaft:   6.5 m
descending passage:   58 m
                 (wide: 85 cm; height: 1.65 m)
perimeter wall:   236 x 218 m
eastern chapel:   9.18 x 9 m (height: 2.7 m)

The construction initiated by a last ruler of the Dynasty III, pharaoh Huni, and finished by his son and successor – Snefru. Its eight-stepped core, sometimes thought to be a primary construction, was built of carved stones then encased in sloping walls. They had been filled in with limestone blocks so that the building turned into the first regular pyramid. It was finally covered with marvelous facing of polished white limestone. Today’s ruined appearance results from stripping, yet in ancient times, both of the outer coating and of blocks filling up gaps between steps. The burial chamber with its walls lined in white limestone tiles possessed a corbelled roof, composed of seven steps. It was for the first time in Egyptian stone architecture that the corbelled roof had been applied. Recent “endoscopic” research revealed presence of remains of a corridor just above the still existing one, which leads to two identical small chambers. The chambers were probably intended for reducing stresses produced by walls and protecting the horizontal passage beneath.

A -vertical section - south side with western entrance

length of western passage:   65 m
upper burial chamber:   7.97 x 5.26 m (height: 16.5 m)

originally height:   105 m
actual height:   101.15 m
base length:   188 m
slope of the walls up to 49,07 m:   54^o 27' 44''
slope of the walls above 49 m:   43^o 22'

length of northern passage:   74 m
lower burial chamber:   6.3 x4.96 m (height: 17 m)
height of antechamber:   12.6 m


B - vertical section - west side with northern entrance

Snefru started building of his pyramid soon after moved his residence and necropolis from Maidum to Dahshur, between 12 and 15 regnal years. During building works, due to increasing mass of the structure, the ground had moved causing subsequently destruction of the chambers’ system. As the ground sunk the pyramid’s angle had to be reduced at the height of 49,1 m (from 55 ^o to 44,3 ^o) resulting in its characteristic bent shape. Hence its recent name - Rhomboidal or Bent, Blunt Pyramid. The pyramid has a double system of chambers. The lower one is accessible through a corridor leading down from northern side (B) until about 22,5 m under the ground level. It consists of a shaft-like antechamber, 12,6 m high and a chamber 17,2 m high with corbelled roof and 15,3 m high chimney.
The upper chamber (8 x 5.3 m, 16.5 m high, corbel-roofed) accessible via corridor running from west face (A) is 87,7 m long and trap doors. Later additionally a 18,8 m long corridor was cut to connect a passage leading to upper chamber with a vault of the lower one. The upper chamber had been walled up due to building destructions which appeared during the works (according to T. Schneider).