Abu Gurab

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formerly known as the Pyramid of Righa, was excavated in 1898-1901 by the German archeologist Ludwig Borchardt (1863-1938) on behalf of the Berlin Museum. The various finds made during the excavations, including in particular the many fine bas reliefs with which the walls were covered, can now be seen in the museums of Cairo and Berlin.

Like earlier Egyptian temples, the sun-temples of the fifth Dynasty were built on the edge of the desert and consisted of a valley temple and the main temple, with a causeway linking the two. Unlike the earlier temples, however, they were purely temples for the worship of the divinity and not the burial place of the Pharaoh who built them. All the sun-temples had an open courtyard enclosing the obelisk of the sun - the focal point of worship, representing the first resting place of the rising sun. At the foot of the obelisk (the form of which can be reconstructed from hieroglyphic representations) was a massive altar on which the cult of the sun was celebrated.