
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Neithsabes assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Easily the most ruinous of the 'complete' pyramids at Abusir. Nyuserre was the son of pharaoh Neferirkare and usurped the causeway of his father's mortuary temple for his own monument - it can be seen to the southeast of the pyramid. Nyuserre's monument encompass a main pyramid, a mortuary temple adjacent the east face, a valley temple on Abusir Lake, the accompanying causeway intended for Neferirkare's monument, and a cult pyramid. The main pyramid had a stepped core built from roughly cut limestone encased in fine Tura limestone. The limestone casing was stripped by stone thieves, leaving the core exposed to the elements and further human activity, reducing the once nearly 52 m tall pyramid to a ruined mound, with a substructure that is dangerous to enter due to the risk of cave-ins.
The pyramid of Nyuserre is the funerary monument built for the Egyptian pharaoh Nyuserre Ini of the Fifth Dynasty in the mid-25th-century BC. During his reign, Nyuserre had the unfinished monuments of his father, Neferirkare Kakai, mother, Khentkaus II, and brother, Neferefre, completed, before commencing work on his personal pyramid complex. He chose a site in the Abusir necropolis between the complexes of Neferirkare and Sahure, which, restrictive in area and terrain, economized the costs of labour and material. Nyuserre was the last king to be entombed in the necropolis; his successors chose to be buried elsewhere. His monument encompasses a main pyramid, a mortuary temple, a valley temple on Abusir Lake, a causeway originally intended for Neferirkare's monument, and a cult pyramid.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Standing 45 m now in a partially ruined state, the Pyramids of Neferirkare closely resembles the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, unintentionally, as the steps visible in its construction were designed to be filled in to achieve the classic pyramid shape. This task was never completed.
Ptahshepses, vizier under Nyuserre.
Queen Khentkaus II, wife of Neferirkare and mother of Neferefre and Niuserre.
The northernmost pyramid at Abusir and located closest to the entrance to the site, the Pyramid of Sahure (pronounced "Sa-who-ray") - the second ruler of the 5th Dynasty - was also the first constructed at Abusir. Completing its profile as the most completely preserved pyramid at the locality, the Pyramid of Sahure once measured..... Numerous blocks carved in beautiful deep relief were revealed here when the French archaeologist Borchardt excavated between 1902-1908. On the eastern side of the pyramid, the attached mortuary temple is reasonably well-preserved, retaining numerous granite pillars and large blocks with Sahure's cartouche still clearly visible. It is possible to access the pyramid's interior: from the entrance, a 75 m long walk down a corridor leads to the burial chamber, entered by crawling through a narrow portal and 2 m long passage.
— The pyramid belonged to a woman, likely a queen. The name of the vizier Ptahshepses appears among builders' marks, which dates the pyramid to the time of Pharaoh Nyuserre.