4 Architectural Miscellany

Extract

Accounts of the monumental architecture occupy much of our text because features of lesser magnitude have suffered deterioration from weather, agriculture, and quarrying for recent building activity.

A number of terrace façades are observable on some pyramids. The clearest of these appear in the north side of Str. 2 where the staircase is Hanked by terrace walls embellished with four large panels recessed nearly a half meter into the wall (Figs. 13, 15, 16). The recessed panel is broken into an upper and a lower plane by a carefully planned offset in the masonry that is evidently decorative. The simplest interpretation of these bold lines, executed through the medium of hewn slabs 30 cm. thick, is that they form a geometrical base for further ornamentation of either painting on flat plaster, or molded stucco.