It was here, at Saqqara, that the pharaoh Djoser decided to build his tomb.

Djoser’s great architect and vizier, Imhotep, got the idea of elevating the mastaba of his sovereign and, at the beginning of the 3rd Dynasty, around 2600 B.C., created the first pyramid in history — the so-called Step Pyramid — that dominates the landscape.

There are many architectural structures at the site, such as Heb-sed courtyard fronted by the chapels above.