Image · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Ancient · Sculpture
The Great Sphinx of Tanis
Unknown Egyptian sculptor · c. 2600 BC
ArtistUnknown Egyptian sculptor
Datec. 2600 BC
TypeSculpture
MediumPink granite
Dimensions183 cm × 480 cm × 154 cm (72 in × 189 in × 61 in)
LocationSully Wing
— The Work
About this masterpiece
Carved from a single block of pink granite, this colossal sphinx — a lion’s body with the head of a pharaoh — is among the largest outside Egypt. It is inscribed with the names of three different kings, indicating that successive rulers reused and reinscribed the monument over many centuries.
— Context
Historical significance
Excavated in 1825 at Tanis in the eastern Nile Delta, the Sphinx now greets visitors entering the Louvre’s Egyptian galleries from beneath the Pyramid. It is one of the masterpieces of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, founded by Jean-François Champollion, decipherer of the Rosetta Stone.
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