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As you know, St. Petersburg adorns many sculptures of various animals, birds and mythological creatures. These are, first of all, lions, horses, eagles, griffins, and of course, sphinxes. In St. Petersburg there are fourteen sphinxes. But the greatest attention deserves, undoubtedly, the sphinxes installed on the University embankment, in front of the Academy of Arts.

Only these sculptures were brought from Egypt from all St.Petersburg sphinxes. Scientists believe that they are about 3, 5 thousand years old

Sphynxes are statues of lions with human faces. It is believed that in ancient times, these statues guarded the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and the sphinxes themselves are portraits of the ancient ruler. Stone guards were found in the 20s of the XIX century during the excavations of Thebes, the ancient capital of Egypt.

Russian traveler, diplomat A . N . Muravyov saw one of the sphinxes in Alexandria and was so impressed by what he saw that he turned to the Russian ambassador, expressing an opinion on the need to purchase these sculptures for Russia . As a result, this appeal came to the very Nicholas I and the Academy of Arts, where they decided to buy . Sphinxes cost the Russian Treasury 64 thousand rubles . Relatively cheap , if you compare with the amount of 450 thousand rubles, sweat They can be seen on Anichkov Bridge . By the way, it was originally planned to decorate the embankment with these sculptures of horses and tamers, until St. Petersburg sphinxes were brought to St. Petersburg .

@ St. Petersburg @ Petersburg, nab. University

Sphinxes at the University Embankment, St. Petersburg

Sphinxes at the University Embankment Sphinxes at the University Embankment
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