Pyramid of Menkaure

The Pyramid of Menkaure, the third shortest pyramid in the foreground, is the smallest of the three Pyramids of Giza. It was built to serve as the tomb of the fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Menkaure.

At the end of the twelfth century al-Malek al-Aziz Othman ben Yusuf, Saladin's son and heir, attempted to demolish the pyramids starting with Menkaure's pyramid. They found it almost as expensive to destroy as to build and were not able to remove more than one or two stones each day. Their efforts left a large vertical gash in the side of the pyramid.