The grave monument of King Shepseskaf

The Mastabat al-Fir'aun, which means Bench of the Pharaoh, is a monumental structure located in South Saqqara, halfway between the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara and the pyramids of Sneferu at Dahshur. It is the grave monument of Shepseskaf, the last king of the Fourth Dynasty documented to date. The structure is 99.6 meters long and 74.4 meters wide. For the core structure, the same red sandstone was used as in the nearby Red Pyramid of Sneferu. Only very sparse traces of the outer cladding remain today, but these indicate the lowest layer was clad in pink granite and all other layers were clad in Tura limestone.

The mastaba is around 18 meters high, with sides that have an incline of about 70 degrees. The entrance to the subterranean system of chambers is located on the shorter, northern side. A passage with a slope of 23°30′ leads down into the ground. It was originally 20.75 meters long, but due to a collapse, it is now only 16.3 meters long. After this descent, the passage continues horizontally, forming a small chamber with a length of 2.67 meters and a height of 2 meters. At this point, three portcullis stones are still anchored in the ceiling. The passage continues at a height of 1.27 meters before the floor becomes very uneven because it was no longer plastered. After a further reduction in height to 1.2 meters, the horizontal passage reaches the ante-chamber.

The ante-chamber has an east-west length of 8.31 meters, a width of 3.05 meters, and a height of 5.55 meters. It features a pointed roof made of granite. A passage with a slope of 10°30′ extends from its western end, leading to the burial chamber, which is 7.79 meters long, 3.85 meters wide, and 4.9 meters high. It has a pointed granite roof with a ceiling shaped like a barrel vault. Only fragments remain of the sarcophagus, which was probably made of greywacke or basalt. The ante-chamber and burial chamber were both clad with granite, but it was not smoothed or polished.

Another passage leads south from the southeast corner of the ante-chamber. It is 10.62 meters long, 1.14 meters wide, and between 2.1 and 2.3 meters high. On its east side, there are four small niches, and there is another one on the west side, immediately opposite the southernmost of the eastern niches. The eastern niches are between 2.1 and 2.27 meters long, barely 0.8 meters wide and 1.4 meters high; the western niche is 2.65 meters long and 1.16 meters wide.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons