In the small village of Rapa in Masuria, close the border with Russia (near Kaliningrad), is a building seemingly of Egyptian origin. It is the most famous Polish pyramid. It was commissioned by Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Fahrenheit, a local landowner, expert on ancient Egyptian culture and art collector. He was fascinated by stories of the unusual properties of Egyptian pyramids so decided to build a similar one on his land. Its purpose was to house the mortal remains of the Fahrenheit family.

The family tomb was designed by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, also the creator of the statues of Nicholas Copernicus and Prince Josef Poniatowski in Warsaw. The pyramid was built from stone and brick in 1811 and approximately 5km from the owner’s palace. The first to be buried in the pyramid was the Baron’s 3 year old daughter, Ninette.

The structure has a height of 15.9m, the square base has sides of 10.4m and the internal angle of the walls is 51°52’, which is identical to the Egyptian pyramids. Of course, all the bodies laid in the tomb were mummified in spite of the damp conditions of the terrain.