page_title: Pyramid of Khafre
section_title: Khafre's temples
hierarchical_section_title: Pyramid of Khafre / Pyramid complex / Khafre's temples
caption_attribution_description: English: Lantern Slide Collection: Views, Objects: Egypt. Gizeh [selected images]. View 11: Egyptian - Old Kingdom. Granite Temple near Pyramid of Khephren. Gizeh, 4th Dyn., n.d., Made by Joseph Hawkes. New York City. Brooklyn Museum Archives (S10.08 Gizeh, image 9941).
context_page_description: The Pyramid of Khafre or of Chephren is the second-tallest and second-largest of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza and the tomb of the Fourth-Dynasty pharaoh Khafre, who ruled from c. 2558 to 2532 BC.
context_section_description: The temples of Khafre's complex survive in much better condition than Khufu's, this being specially true to the Valley Temple, which is substantially preserved.
  To the east of the Pyramid sits the mortuary temple. Though it is now largely in ruins, enough of it survives to understand the plan. It is larger than previous temples and is the first to include all five standard elements of later mortuary temples: an entrance hall, a columned court, five niches for statues of the pharaoh, five storage chambers, and an inner sanctuary. There were over 50 life size statues of Khafre, but these were removed and recycled, possibly by Ramses II. The temple was built of megalithic blocks (the largest is an estimated 400 tonnes).
  A causeway runs 494.6 metres (541 yd) to the valley temple, which is very similar to the mortuary temple.  It is built of megalithic blocks sheathed in red granite. The square pillars of the T-shaped hallway were made of solid granite, and the floor was paved in alabaster. The exterior was built of huge blocks, some weighing over 100 tonnes.
  Though devoid of any internal decoration, this temple would have been filled with symbolism: two doors open into a vestibule and a large pillared hall, in which there were sockets in the floor that would have fixed 23 statues of Khafre. These columns have since been plundered. The interior, made of granite of the Valley Temple, is remarkably well preserved. The exterior made of limestone is much more weathered.
  The so-called temple of the Sphinx is not attested to any king, but structural similarities to Khafre's mortuary temple point to him as its builder. Opening to a hall with 24 columns, each with its own statue, two sanctuaries and symmetric design, it is possible but unsure if this temple had any symbolism attached to the finished plan.
caption: 16 pillared hall of Valley Temple of Khafre: Lantern Slide Collection: Temple near Pyramid of Khephren. Gizeh, 4th Dyn., n.d., Made by Joseph Hawkes. New York City. Brooklyn Museum Archives
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