Mastaba of Ty

The Mastaba-tomb of Ty , in Saqqara, is one of the most famous of the Old Kingdom, remarkable for the diversity and relevance of topics, as well as for the quality of execution of its reliefs and their state of conservation. 

The Mastaba, is situated a few hundred meters to the northwest of the step pyramid of Djoser and about 150 meters from the entrance way leading into the Serapeum.

The structure if the Mastaba hold the traditional characteristic of the old kingdom funerary structure with a superstructure above the ground level for the living to visit the chapel and honor the deceased and a substructure below ground level where the burial chamber is located.

The plan of the tomb of Ty is simple: the entrance opens onto an open courtyard with pillars, hence, two successive corridors lead to the first room (a storeroom), then another leads to the main chapel for receiving the offerings and worship.

The mastaba of Ty was one of the first private tombs to consist of a great pillared courtyard. This courtyard is

 external to the main structure, to the east of the main oblong massif, and not inside, which signifies that it had been maybe added in a second phase.

The orientation of the monument is nearly perfectly north-south; the chapel, serdabs (vaults) and storeroom are therefore oriented east-west.