Abusir

Abusir (also spelt Abu Sir) is the name given to an Egyptian archaeological locality on the desert plateau (and its neighbouring village in the valley) 10 km (7 miles) south of Giza and 8 km north of Saqqara. About 35 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, Abusir is the site of a compact pyramid field, with pyramids and funerary temples dating mainly from the 5th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It is somewhat "off the beaten track" for most visitors and therefore ideal for exploration with far less hassle and company than will be experienced at Giza, or even Saqqara.

Understand
Just one, relatively small segment of the extensive "pyramid field" that extends from north of Giza to below Saqqara, the locality of Abusir took its turn as the focus of the prestigious western burial rites operating out of the then-capital of Memphis as an elite cemetery (or necropolis) during the Old Kingdom 5th Dynasty. Neighbouring Giza had by then "filled up" with the massive pyramids and other monuments of the 4th Dynasty, leading the 5th Dynasty pharaohs to seek sites elsewhere for their own funerary monuments. Although two 5th Dynasty pharaohs (Unas and Userkaf) did build their pyramids further south at Saqqara, adjacent to the 3rd Dynasty Step Pyramid of Djoser, most of the Dynasty's rulers concentrated their efforts at Abusir (for their pyramids and associated funerary temples) and elsewhere (for their so-called "sun-temples").

Get in
Abusir is not served by any viable means of public transport, the site lying some distance from the village and the main road that leads south to Saqqara. The only practible means of visiting Abusir are by car, by hired taxi (perhaps in association with a visit to Saqqara or Giza) or as part of an organised tour group.

There are local trains from central Cairo to El Hawamdeyya, a few kilometers to the east.



See
The Abusir necropolis is open daily 8am-4pm. Admission LE80 (as of Dec 2018). 14 pyramids were constructed at Abusir - of these, four were those of pharaohs, three of royal women and one unfinished. Some are better preserved than others, from those surviving, but all in a far more ruined state - and certainly built to more modest dimensions - than those found at Giza:



Go next

 * Cairo
 * Memphis
 * Saqqara — an extensive number of pyramids and tombs on a plateau above the Nile Valley, just a few km South from Abusir