uncased. After a delay of 12 years, Nyuserre Ini restarted the building work, and expended much effort in completing the majority of the construction. The motivation for this might have been to legitimise his rule following the premature death of Neferefre and the possible challenge by Shepseskare. The pyramid is located in Abusir, next to that of Neferikare Kakai, who was Khentkaus' husband and under whose reign the construction of Khentkaus's complex had started. Once completed, the pyramid stood high, with a side of at the base and a slope of 52 degrees. Its sepulchral chamber likely housed a sarcophagus of red granite. Today, the pyramid is a high mound of rubble. The mortuary temple of the queen, at the eastern foot of the pyramid, was the object of successive completion works during Nyuserre's reign, the earliest one used stone while the latest used only mudbrick. Completely ruined today, the temple seems to have been designed in imitation of the mortuary temples of kings incorporating, for example, a satellite pyramid, and being aligned on an east–west axis. The temple was administratively at least partially independent from the temple of Neferirkare Kakai with which it nonetheless shared some religious services, and it continued to function until the end of the Sixth Dynasty, some 300 years after Khentkaus' lifetime. Valley Temple of Menkaure Archaeological excavations in 2012–2015 revealed that Nyuserre Ini undertook building works on the valley temple of Menkaure, as witnessed by numerous seal impressions bearing his serekh discovered on the site. These works ended a long period from the reign of Shepseskaf until his reign during which the Giza necropolis was not the object of royal attention. Beyond Menkaure's valley temple, Nyuserre apparently also took a wider interest in the administration of the pyramid town of Khafre and revived the cult of both Menkaure and queen Khentkaus I. According to Mark Lehner, this queen, who bore the same name as Nyuserre's mother and like his mother bore two pharaohs, provided Nyuserre with a genealogical link relating him to his Fourth Dynasty forebears. John Nolan believes that the mirroring position and names of both Khentkaus queens was emphasised so that Nyuserre could legimitise his rule after the troubled times surrounding Neferefre's death. In the valley temple of Menkaure, Nyuserre extended the eastern annex, where he added two sets of alabaster columns, rebuilt the main entrance and refurbished the limestone causeway leading