The Quadrivium









This crossing is very complicate to understand. The ascending passage is connected in here to the Grand Gallery. Both the  passage floors  are perfectly aligned, even if they are 10c separated ( about 5 m. ).

A third passage, going horizontally to the Queen's Chamber ( see Grand Gallery dwg.) requires the floor interruption.

Because there are three coplanar ways, it will be possible to carry any load up, crossing the floor interruption, using a mobile bridge, made by 5 wooden beams installed transversally the walking path.

The Queen's Chamber entrance will be accessible removing the bridge.

The 5 wooden beams must be inserted in 10 trapezoidal grooves, dug in the side walls. The groove depth and the distance in between are not so simple to analyze.

Some beams should be installed from the right side, the others from the left. The distance between the beams and also the beam width are not the same always.

This ingenious crossing is more complicate because one more walkway. This had been made in a second time, dug into the pyramid body, starting exactly at the beginning of the horizontal part. It goes into the west side of the Pyramid, proceeding much down, in a complicate manner, leading to the descending passage by a goose-neck pathway, close to its end. This tunnel  changes its gradient many times; it goes through a natural cavity, named “The Grotto” by a square section vertical well shaft, made using small square limestone blocks.

It is possible to find a lot of hypothesis about why this tunnel,  named “Service Well Shaft”, has been built.

Back to the Grand Gallery, I said above, the floor is perfectly aligned, except a small step at the beginning, to the ascending passage floor, going up to the big step at the top where another small horizontal passage leads, through the Porcullis Room, to the King's Chamber containing a distinctive sarcophagus.

Inside the King's Chamber there are two very small airshafts, in the north and south wall, penetrating horizontally through the granite blocks, then going up and coming out the pyramid at the same level.

Two similar airshafts  have been found in the Queen's Chamber, I’ll deal with that later on.

A briefly general description is over now: let’s have a better look to the Grand Gallery.