Overview
- Features:
- Opening Times: 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, daily
- Best Time to Visit: Early in the morning
- Duration: 30 mins to 1 hr
- Travelled By: On the Go Tours
- Cost:
- Address: Giza, Egypt
- Type: Monument
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Summary
The Egyptian Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza top the list of everyone visiting Egypt and for good reason. These icons of ancient Egypt are testament to the greatness of the Egyptian pharaohs and their architects, and no visit to Egypt is complete without visiting them.
Great Sphinx of Giza
The Egyptian Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza top the list of everyone visiting Egypt and for good reason. These icons of ancient Egypt are testament to the greatness of the Egyptian pharaohs and their architects, and no visit to Egypt is complete without visiting them.
Legends and superstitions abound about the Great Sphinx of Giza, and the mystery surrounding its long-forgotten purpose is almost as intriguing as its appearance. On seeing it for the first time, many visitors agree with English playwright Alan Bennett, who noted in his diary that seeing the Sphinx is like meeting a TV personality in the flesh: he’s smaller than one had imagined.
10 Interesting Facts about the Great Sphinx of Giza
- Dating to around 2500 BC, the Sphinx is the earliest known monumental sculpture of ancient Egypt
- Standing at 73.5 m (241 ft) long, 19.3 m (63 ft) wide, and 20.22 m (66. 34 ft) high, it is the largest monolith statue in the world
- The Sphinx has an elongated body of a lion, outstretched paws and a royal headdress framing a fleshy face of a woman. It even has a little tail
- Known in Arabic as Abu-al-Hol (“Father of Terror”), the feline man was dubbed the Sphinx by the ancient Greeks because it resembled the mythical winged monster with a woman’s head and lion’s body who set riddles and killed anyone unable to answer them
- It is believed the Sphinx was built in memory of Khafre since it stands guard at the approach to the Pyramid of Khafre, was most likely carved from the bedrock at about the same time as the pyramid, and the face portrays the pharaoh’s features
- Although it is often written that the Sphinx’s nose was shot off by the Mamluks, Ottomans or Napoleon’s French army, it was in fact lost some time before the 15th century
- Originally the Sphinx also had a stylised false beard, symbol of royalty, but that too fell off. A piece taken from where it lay on the sand is now held by the British Museum in London
- A succession of restoration attempts has sped up the decaying process of the Sphinx rather than halting it
- The Sphinx’s shiny white paws are the result of the most recent restoration effort
