Pyramid of Amenemhat I

29.5500°N, 31.2167°E.

Early Twelfth-Dynasty pyramid at el-Lisht, north of the Faiyum, built for pharaoh Amenemhat I, founder of the Twelfth Dynasty, who reigned approximately 1991–1962 BCE. Original base 84 metres per side; original height 55 metres at a 54° slope. Excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian expedition under Albert Lythgoe and Arthur Mace from 1906 onward. The construction technique departs from the Old Kingdom standard: the core is built of small limestone blocks bound by mudbrick fill, with reused blocks from Old Kingdom monuments at Giza, Saqqara, Abusir, and Dahshur incorporated into the structure — bearing the names of Khufu, Khafre, Unas, Pepi I, and Pepi II among others. The choice was deliberate: Amenemhat moved the capital from Thebes to a new city called Itjtawy near el-Lisht, and physically transported pieces of the older royal cemeteries to legitimise the move.

The first pyramid built in Egypt for two centuries, founded by a king who was assassinated in his bedroom by his own guards, in a monument whose stones had already served four pharaohs by the time he was buried under them.