While photography has only been around for about 200 years, photographers have flocked to the pyramids of Giza to capture images of mysterious “creatures” in the Egyptian desert. Gathered below are diverse photographs of the Sphinx over the past 170 years, from the mostly still-buried Sphinx at Maxime du Camp, in 1849, to century-old light shows 21, and much more.
Japanese Samurai with the Sphinx in 1864. 150 years ago, Japanese samurai took pictures with the Sphinx, don’t you find it hard to believe? However, this is actually true. After the Shimonoseki War, the Japanese shogunate sent a diplomat Ikeda Nagaha to France on a French warship to apologize to Napoleon III, Second French Empire, for the Shimonoseki War. Along the way, they passed through Egypt and stopped by the Pyramids of Khafre, the Sphinx, and took this photo. The event was also later made into a movie called “Wine Road of the Samurai”, about a delegation of 34 samurai arriving in Europe in 1863, known as the Second Japanese Embassy to Europe. Europe. It was first broadcast in Japan on March 21, 2006.
Great Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, photographed by Maxime du Camp in 1849, and published in a photographic tour book in 1852. This was around the time the Sphinx was first discovered, before There, this statue was covered in sand up to the shoulder for many years.
Great Sphinx with Khafre’s Pyramid in the background, circa 1860.
Further excavations revealed more about the statue, which was taken around 1860.
Excavation was underway around 1880. A foot was discovered, along with the Dream Stele – the tombstone of King Thutmose IV, who ruled Egypt from 1400 to 1390 BC. On the tombstone is engraved the story of the young Thutmose, who fell asleep under the great shadow of the sphinx. In the dream, the sphinx appeared in the form of the sun god, Horus, asking Thutmose to do all he could to protect himself from the ravages of sun, wind and sand. In return, the Sphinx promised to give Thutmose the right to rule Egypt. Both sides agreed to the deal, and the future king became the first to initiate an overhaul for the statue.
“Our Party, December 1892, February 1893.” From “Lower Egypt. Pyramids”, part of the Tupper Scrapbook Collection.
Original caption from March 1920: “Infantry soldiers pose for a photo on the Great Sphinx, built around 2,500 BC, at Giza, in Egypt.”
The view is seen during the more extensive excavation on December 4, 1925.
Aerial shot of Giza with the Sphinx in the lower center, circa 1929.
In 1942, sandbags were placed to protect the Sphinx from enemy bombs during World War II.
American jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong plays the trumpet while his wife listens, with the Sphinx and one of the pyramids behind her, during a visit in 1961.
The Great Sphinx, surrounded by scaffolding, during restoration in 1990.
Fashion designer Pierre Cardin presents his new fragrance “Enigme,” at Giza, in May 1992.
A closer look at the Sphinx’s head and face. The mystery of the Sphinx has attracted a lot of attention, and at the same time raised countless theories about the statue’s supernatural powers. One of them is the road leading to the legendary city of Atlantis. In fact, rumors of this connection have been circulating since Pluto began writing about a utopian society. Around the turn of the 20th century, American psychic Edgar Allan Cayce said he saw a room inside the sphinx, which contained the secret of the location of Atlantis. He also predicted that this room would be found in 1998.
An extreme motorcyclist flies in front of the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza during the second leg of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour freestyle motorsport on May 14, 2010.
A view of the Great Sphinx of Giza. The difference in the architectural style of the Sphinx compared to the surrounding works, the disproportionate proportions between the head and the body also raise many questions for researchers.
A tourist poses for a photo with the Sphinx in Cairo on October 19, 2011.
An image is projected onto the face of the Sphinx during a light and sound show on November 8, 2012.
US first lady Melania Trump visits the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx on October 6, 2018, during the final stop of her week-long tour of four countries in Africa.
The Great Sphinx was taken in the context of tourists visiting the Giza complex, with the Pyramid of Khafre in the background.
Rear view of the Great Sphinx, showing its tail wrapped around its right hind leg.