Saqqara

Also known as Sakkara, Saccara

Saqqara ( : saqqāra[t], ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient mausoleum crypts of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the Pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Pyramid, and a number of mastaba tombs. Located some south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around .

OverviewAI-generated

Saqqara is a village, necropolis, and archaeological site located in Egypt. It is situated within the administrative territorial entity of Markaz al Badrashayn and the Giza region. The site has an elevation of 39 meters above sea level and is associated with the culture of Ancient Egypt. Its native label is سقارة.

The population of Saqqara is 450. The location falls within the UTC+02:00 time zone.

Synthesized by Vinony from 34 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Open Meteo, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality: سقارة
Region: الجيزة
Country: مصر
Population: 450

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

85US AQIModerate

PM2.5: 18.5 µg/m³
PM10: 21.9 µg/m³

As of 2026-08-11 03:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

Ancient site.name: Saqqara
Ancient site.native_name: سقارة
Ancient site.image: Saqqara pyramid ver 2.jpg
Ancient site.caption: The stepped Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara
Ancient site.map_type: Egypt
Ancient site.relief: yes
Ancient site.location: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Ancient site.region: Lower Egypt
Ancient site.type: Necropolis
Ancient site.epochs: Early Dynastic Period to Middle Ages
UNESCO World Heritage Site.child: yes
UNESCO World Heritage Site.part_of: "Pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur"; part of Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur
UNESCO World Heritage Site.criteria: (i), (iii), (vi)
UNESCO World Heritage Site.ID: 86-002
UNESCO World Heritage Site.year: 1979

via Wikipedia infobox

Travel guide

Understand

350px|thumb|The Step Pyramid

The desert plateau above the modern village of Saqqara formed one of the main cemeteries of the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis for thousands of years. As such, it attracted a large number of royal and high prestige burials, the remains of which can be seen in pyramids and decorated tombs scattered across the area. The site of Saqqara is quite extensive, stretching 6 km north-south and 1.5 km across at its widest point.

Get around

As 11/2024, Pepi I and Pepi II pyramid área is closed for tourism.

See

Saqqara complex. Opening hours: 9AM-5PM, and till 4PM in winter. Entrance fees (as of Dec 2018), students are entitled to 50% discount: see the wesite for latest prices. General admission to the complex and Imhotep Museum: LE600 (April 2026) Tomb of Mereruka: LE200 Tombs at the Unas Causeway ("Saqqara New Tombs"): LE400 Temple Tombs of the New Kingdom (Tomb of Horemheb): LE200 Serapeum: LE340 Step Pyramid of Djoser: LE280 Inclusive ticket: LE1000

Tickets are sold at near the entrance or online here

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~20 min read

Encyclopedic overview

20 sections

Contents

History
Early Dynastic
Early Dynastic monuments
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom monuments
First Intermediate Period monuments
Middle Kingdom
Second Intermediate Period monuments
New Kingdom
New Kingdom monuments
After the New Kingdom
Monuments of the Late Period, the Graeco-Roman and later periods
Site looting during 2011 protests
Archaeology
Recent Discoveries
2010s
2020s
See also
References
External links

Saqqara contains the oldest complete stone building complex known in history, the Pyramid of Djoser, built during the Third Dynasty. Another sixteen Egyptian kings built pyramids at Saqqara, which are now in various states of preservation. High officials added private funeral monuments to this necropolis during the entire Pharaonic period. It remained an important complex for non-royal burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, well into Ptolemaic and Roman times.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Saqqara” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.