Sphinxes on University Embankment

The sphinxes on University Embankment are the only genuine ancient Egyptian sculptures in St Petersburg, set upon a granite landing stage opposite the Academy of Arts. The two monoliths of pink Aswan granite depict reclining lions with human faces bearing the portrait features of a pharaoh. Created almost three and a half thousand years ago, these monuments have become one of the recognisable emblems of the city on the Neva.

The sculptures were carved in the 14th century BC for the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile, near ancient Thebes. In the 1820s the temple site was excavated by the Greek Yanis Athanasi, working on behalf of the British consul in Egypt, Henry Salt; in 1825 he discovered the sphinxes near the Colossi of Memnon. The statues were examined and described by the French Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion. In 1830 the traveller Andrei Muravyov saw one sphinx in Alexandria and proposed, through the ambassador in Constantinople, acquiring the pair for St Petersburg. While the emperor's petition was being considered by officials, the statues were sold to France, but the deal was halted by the July Revolution of 1830. The sculptures went to Russia for 64,000 roubles; in May 1832 the sphinxes arrived in the city aboard the sailing ship Buena Speranza.

Each figure is carved from a single block of granite, weighs 23 tonnes, and measures over 5 metres in length and 4.5 metres in height; hieroglyphs bearing the pharaoh's titulary are carved on the chest and plinths. The landing stage was designed in the Classical style by the architect Konstantin Ton: the 42-metre descent to the water is adorned with bronze figures of winged griffins on semicircular benches and lamps shaped like bundles of papyrus. There had been plans to decorate the landing stage with equestrian groups by Pyotr Klodt, but because of the high cost the already-purchased Egyptian statues were chosen instead.

While the embankment was still being completed, the sphinxes stood for almost two years in the courtyard of the Academy of Arts, taking their permanent place by the water only in April 1834. The monuments quickly entered the city's culture: they were painted by the artist Maxim Vorobyov, celebrated in verse by Alexander Blok and Valery Bryusov, and their images were struck on commemorative coins for St Petersburg's tercentenary. In 2002 the monuments underwent their first thorough restoration: the granite was cleaned of grime and the stone, damaged by the local climate, was reinforced; the project's scholarly curator was the Egyptologist Viktor Solkin.

Today the sphinxes remain one of the most recognisable landmarks of Vasilyevsky Island. St Petersburg's damp climate continues to erode the granite faster than it would in Egypt, so specialists constantly monitor the monuments' condition. The landing stage with the sphinxes remains a viewing point over the Neva and a magnet for tours devoted to the history of ancient Egypt.

The story of the St Petersburg sphinxes bridges two distant worlds — the Egypt of the pharaohs and the Russia of Nicholas I's reign. Having travelled from the temple of Amenhotep III to the banks of the Neva, the sculptures remain authentic witnesses to ancient Egyptian civilisation and a monument to the fascination with Egyptology that swept Europe and Russia in the first third of the 19th century.